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Mark Griffith Jr.

Angela Pedrotti

English 1101

13 November 2018

NASA Researched Response

Corey Powell, author and science editor at Aeon stated, “I believe exploration is

extremely important for fostering a constructive sense of wonder, collective purpose and hope

for the future”. NASA does many great things that while dangerous to those involved helps every

person and aspect of life and their existence today is just as important as it was 30 years ago. Yet

it is not common knowledge just how much NASA has shaped and advanced the world we live

in today. When people first see or hear about NASA’S budget it comes as a shock and is

normally followed with the usual questions. Why do they get so much? Which is used as a

jumping point for some politicians to call into question the need for NASA and if it’s worth the

money.

NASA’s budget of 19.5 billion for the fiscal year of 2019 sounds like an insane amount

doesn’t it (NASA)? That is an unimaginable number to almost all Americans and is what

generates a lot of pushback against NASA as unneeded or excessive spending that should be cut.

But in context of the annual fiscal operating budget for the United States it is nothing more than

a drop in the $4.4 trillion bucket that is the US budget, which NASA is allocated on .43% of

(OBM). The great thing about NASA is that it’s a government agency meaning that we the

taxpayers are it customers and allows for full transparency and yearly breakdown of what they

want to achieve. They will be spending $10.5 billion returning to the moon and doing further
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research while also using the moon a jumping off point to help reach other destinations such as

Mars.

Space Exploration does have its fair share of risks though, it is not like a car or plane

where in the event of an emergency the pilot or driver can bring it to a safe controlled stop.

Astronauts are in a completely different scenario where they have absolutely no control over the

vehicle that is delivering them to space. When fully loaded with crew, supplies and equipment

the shuttle is pushing 230,000 pounds which requires and 4.4 million pounds of highly reactive

and explosive fuel to lift and propel the shuttle 62 miles into the air to reach the upper

atmosphere (CalTech). The issue that led to the challenger disaster was O-ring leaking gas that

caused the shuttle to destabilize and break apart. Following the incident NASA spent 20 months

combing over every minute detail of the shuttle ensuring that such an oversight would never

occur again and completely redesigned the structure of the launch team to bring in more outside

contractors and have astronauts helping oversee and check the systems their lives will depend

on(Hauck). Going in astronauts understand the risk and danger involved in space flight and

exploration, this is no different then what police and firefighters face going into situations that

could end up with them losing their lives. A collective statement released by the family of the

Colombia space shuttle following the accident “Although we grieve deeply, as do the families of

Apollo 1 and Challenger before us, the bold exploration of space must go on. Once the root

cause of this tragedy is found and corrected, the legacy of Columbia must carry on—for the

benefit of our children and yours.”

From these risks have come some of the greatest inventions that have improved every

aspect of human life. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory or JPL for short details inventions that

we might not have if it weren’t for space exploration. Inventions such as the camera phone that
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we all love and use every day, in the 90’s a JPL team wanted to create a camera small enough to

fit on a space shuttle but also with a scientific quality to help with NASA’s projects. Because of

their work 1/3 of all cameras in use today use technology created by JPL(JPL). More importantly

some of the inventions have helped save and improve lives around the world such as The Jaws

Of Life which are used to help free people from mangled vehicles using technology derived from

the charges used to separate objects from the shuttle to cut through vehicles. Perhaps the most

life changing is and least known is the research that lead to the creation of improved baby

formula helping pre-mature babies and mothers who are unable to breast feed. This amazing

invention was led by former NASA scientists who used a NASA patent originally intended to

enrich food for long bouts of space travel(JPL).

Throughout their existence NASA has not been a driving force behind human invention

and scientific discoveries. Helping improve every aspect of life from life changing and saving

inventions such as the jaws of life and baby formula to quality of life improvements like memory

foam beds and athletic shoes (JPL). It is human nature to explore and question everything that

goes on around us and that has driven us across the globe and into space. All human existence

has been pushed forward by the by the desire to explore and push into new frontiers, from

crossing the oceans and discovering the Americas to Lewis and Clark carving an expedition

across the western US and to the Pacific Ocean. Space is the final frontier filled with so many

questions and untapped potential with the help of NASA there’s nowhere that America and

humanity can go but up.

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Work Cited

Hauck, Fredrick “Is it worth the risk?” Air & Space Magazine, July 2003,

https://www.airspacemag.com/space/is-it-worth-the-risk-4880471/

OBM “Budget of U.S Government FY 2019” The Office of Budget Management, Feb 2018,

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/budget-fy2019.pdf

NASA “2019 FY Budget & Estimates” NASA 2019 Budget Overview, 12 Feb 2019,

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nasa_fy_2019_budget_overview.pdf

Corey, Powell “Is NASA Worth The Money We Spend On It?” Forbes, 19 Aug 2016,

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/08/19/is-nasa-worth-the-money-we-spend-on-

it/

Fowler, Wallace “NASA and Space Exploration are Worth Their Costs” University Of Texas, 21

July 2014, https://news.utexas.edu/2014/07/21/anniversary-shows-us-that-nasa-and-

space-exploration-are-worth-their-costs/

JPL “20 Things We Wouldn’t Have Without Space Travel” Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2018,

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/infographic.view.php?id=11358

CalTech “How much did the space shuttle weigh” Cool Cosmos,

http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/ask/268-How-much-did-the-Space-Shuttle-weigh-
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