Ever since the beginning of the space race the United States has been one of the premier space agencies in the world. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, is a government run program that started in 1958 to better understand what lies beyond Earth’s atmosphere. One of their biggest feats was putting a man on the moon. This virtually won us the space race and put us at the forefront of space technology and research. Many thing have changed since Neil Armstrong first stepped foot on the moon. NASA’s budget has been shrinking exponentially since the 60’s. In 1966 NASA’s budget peaked at 4.3 percent of the federal budget; however since then it has dropped to just below 0.5 percent. There is no way our country can continue
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However, for every dollar we spend on NASA we have gained anywhere from seven to fourteen dollars in new revenue. That is because some of the biggest technological breakthroughs have been developed by NASA. Over 2,000 spinoffs, as they are called, have been produced by the space agency. These can range from everyday products to life saving technology. In the 1950’s NASA encountered a problem with their spacecrafts. The lack of an atmosphere in space causes substantial changes in temperatures, making it impossible for astronauts to survive. To prevent these extreme changes in temperature they covered the spacecraft in a shiny aluminized insulation. Today this reflective insulation has a variety of uses including: home and car insulation, emergency blankets and packaging. Another popular spinoff from NASA is memory foam originally designed for enhanced seat cushions. NASA provides us with so many benefits and if we continue to lower their funding then they will not be able to make new groundbreaking discoveries (Blake …show more content…
Also, thousands more are hired as contractors. One facility located in Cleveland, Ohio is at a real risk of laying off a large amount of employees. The facility, known as the NASA Glenn Research Center, has been forced to stop two different high-tech projects due to a lack of funding. Eventually, they fear that most of their projects may get moved to a larger facility and they will have to terminate a large amount of employees and private contractors or worse, possible close down the facility and move the research to a larger facility. If this worst-case scenario were to happen—however unlikely that may be—more than 3,000 people would be out of jobs in the city of Cleveland and this would have a drastic effect on the entire economy. The only way to prevent such a forlorn event is to increase NASA Glenn’s budget and allow them to play a larger role in the development of future space travel projects
However, for every dollar we spend on NASA we have gained anywhere from seven to fourteen dollars in new revenue. That is because some of the biggest technological breakthroughs have been developed by NASA. Over 2,000 spinoffs, as they are called, have been produced by the space agency. These can range from everyday products to life saving technology. In the 1950’s NASA encountered a problem with their spacecrafts. The lack of an atmosphere in space causes substantial changes in temperatures, making it impossible for astronauts to survive. To prevent these extreme changes in temperature they covered the spacecraft in a shiny aluminized insulation. Today this reflective insulation has a variety of uses including: home and car insulation, emergency blankets and packaging. Another popular spinoff from NASA is memory foam originally designed for enhanced seat cushions. NASA provides us with so many benefits and if we continue to lower their funding then they will not be able to make new groundbreaking discoveries (Blake …show more content…
Also, thousands more are hired as contractors. One facility located in Cleveland, Ohio is at a real risk of laying off a large amount of employees. The facility, known as the NASA Glenn Research Center, has been forced to stop two different high-tech projects due to a lack of funding. Eventually, they fear that most of their projects may get moved to a larger facility and they will have to terminate a large amount of employees and private contractors or worse, possible close down the facility and move the research to a larger facility. If this worst-case scenario were to happen—however unlikely that may be—more than 3,000 people would be out of jobs in the city of Cleveland and this would have a drastic effect on the entire economy. The only way to prevent such a forlorn event is to increase NASA Glenn’s budget and allow them to play a larger role in the development of future space travel projects