WHAT HAS NASA DONE FOR YOU?
Space exploration is expensive. The Soviet Union kick-started the Space Race in 1957 when it placed the first-ever artificial satellite into orbit. According to NASA historians, the beachball-sized Sputnik 1 caused a “full-scale crisis”. The idea of falling behind with technology in the middle of the Cold War frightened the American public, and the US government responded with heavy investment. By the end of 1958, NASA had been formed.
Over the next decade the government poured more than $25 billion (£20 billion) into the space program to ensure that the first man on the Moon was American. In the decades that followed, hundreds of billions of dollars would be spent pushing the boundaries of science and technology. This phenomenal investment won the US the Space Race and completely changed our understanding of the universe, but with NASA currently operating on a budget of about $22.6 billion (£18.4 billion) a year, and estimated to have spent at least $650 billion (£529 billion) in the last 62 years, what does it mean for average people? What has NASA done for us?
The obvious answers would involve satellites, weather monitoring, communications, navigation and aeroplane travel, but even the Apollo missions, the Space Shuttle program and the exploration of Mars have benefitted the general public.
When NASA was formed, part of the conditions of its funding included a requirement to share new advancements with industry, and behind the dramatic launches and the mind-blowing photographs, NASA spin-off products have been taking space
