NASA Cost Benefit Analysis

$3.3 billion, the cost of sending American astronauts to the International Space Station on a Russian rocket, the Soyuz. Even though the United States was instrumental in fabricating and installing major components of the International Space Station (ISS), the United States is now reliant on the Russian space program to send Americans to the ISS. Recent budget cuts by the Obama administration and the Senate have resulted in the NASA budget having its lowest percentage of the national spending since 1959. It is estimated the cost per seat on a Soyuz rocket is about $82 million, and this number will continue to rise until 2018. Although some people have argued raising NASA's budget is a waste of money, the benefits of increasing the budget are

Ever since the space race started in the 1960s, sophistication of technology has increased exponentially. Space exploration is a benefactor to this growth, and the benefits of the investment of exploring space have shaped our lives. Satellite TV, laptops, smoke detectors, GPS, and virtual reality are technologies which have been developed with the help of NASA, and are instrumental in society today. The innovation at NASA has led to “much of the technology NASA developed to [filter] down to the masses, leading to innovation” (Wall). Space exploration has resulted in many advances in the medical field as well, such as the invention of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine (MRI). MRI scans are essential to diagnosing injuries, and have transformed the way injuries regarding inner tissue can be diagnosed and treated. Although some believe “the technology would have been developed anyway without space exploration,” the need for technology acts as a catalyst for technological growth. For example, the miniaturization of the computer would never have occurred in the 1970’s if it was not for the Shuttle program. The needs of the space program dictate the new technologies introduced to society, this can be seen in many different cases. Fifty years “after [memory foam] was developed for NASA,” memory foam became used in airplane seats, NASCAR helmets, and mattresses. Space exploration leads to new technology and inventions which increase the standard of living in society, and dictate how society