by Anony Mous

Created on: January 31, 2009

I write this article because I feel obligated to give an idea as to what kind of steps Americans need to take to start ourselves off on the right path when it comes to science and technology; this means NASA. Funding for NASA is a faded image of its former self. For example, the kind of funding that got us to the moon from the time Kennedy said lets go in 1961 to the time we landed in 1969 (eight years) equated to 219 billion inflation adjusted dollars; which is obviously the kind of engine that can get work done in a short 8 years. Today, however, the NASA budget lies low. Looking at the years 2000-2008, once again 8 years, the budget was 144 billion inflation adjusted dollars. From this NASA has faltered, being exemplified by the fact that America could not return to the moon today if it wanted to. Decreasing the budget of the most prestigious scientific organization in the world is beyond absurd. As we waste money on so many other things, we take away from the real future by cutting more and more from the budget of NASA, the one organization that could truly spearhead the greatest works for the future mankind has ever seen. The only logical way to fix this problem is to make up for lost time and increase the NASA budget. But first, I must explain in further detail why NASA is so important before considering how to go about increasing their budget.

The topic of NASA is a gravely misunderstood one, and of course no good decisions can be made if ignorant on a subject. So, the best way to make a decision is to look at the pros and cons of NASA, or rather an increase in the budget. First of all, the record of NASA is astounding as far as accomplishments are concerned. NASA has well over 1,000 original patents (as well as a numerous 25,000 to 30,000 previously invented design improvements), many of which are found in our everyday lives. These NASA inventions have saved energy, lives, time, and pain, among providing many other purely more "civilizing" comforts. Just a few of these inventions include the luxuries of cellular phones, GPS technology, and the aerial maps used to find directions by Americans everyday. Spending money in NASA does not even necessarily mean losing money, the past has shown that the economy bolstering effects of NASA (such as marketing of patented inventions and job creations) actually returns more money than what was spent in the budget to fund the jobs and patents.

But, while there are many pros to funding NASA, the cons of not doing so

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