An Argument Against NASA

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NASA has been an instrumental force in technology development over the last century. With advancements in computer technology, space exploration, defense management, transportation and health development, the institution has played a major role in driving the government’s agenda to ensure public safety and aid in learning processes. However, in the last few years, the government has reduced the budgetary allocation to NASA, citing harsh economic times. This has seen a reduction in the institution’s capacity to continue aiding the country in managing most of the basic provisions such as health care and national security. As a supporter of the work that NASA does, my opinion is that the move to continue the budget cuts towards NASA is unfair. …show more content…

Having sent the first man to the moon, the country enjoys great pride and improved the nation’s heritage. The Apollo missions that followed ascertained that the country was indeed a leader in space exploration in the quest to understand extraterrestrial life forms. With this milestone, the next step in space exploration would be to send manned flights to other planets. This culminated in the exploration of Mars to investigate the possibility of existence in the planet. Though the explorations are still ongoing, many of the pundits opposed to continued funding of NASA claim that the explorations are a waste of money, which would otherwise be channeled to other ‘more important sectors.’ This has sparked a debate on the importance of NASA’s mandate and elicited mixed feelings from proponents and …show more content…

In the Washington Times, Zubrin examines the proposed budgetary cuts to NASA and explains the importance of NASA to the country’s development (Zubrin). The article in the Washington Times adopts a harsh tone and refers to the budgetary cuts as death of Mars exploration. The article in the Washington Post presents a much relaxed argument and implores the government not to reduce funding to NASA. Though the two articles in the two media outlets have the same message, the tone adopted by each author is different. After reading the articles, my resolve has only become stronger since the articles illuminate the need to continue, or even increase funding to

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