Public Misconceptions of NASA

I have heard these exact same questions over and over again.  Is NASA still even doing anything now that the shuttle program is over?  How can we justify spending money on NASA?  Wouldn't that money be put to better use here on the ground? Why can't the private industry just take over?  I've even heard my own family members ask me some of these questions.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, the public needs to better understand what NASA is and what it does for them.  They truly do benefit.  And this AWESOME article on Huffington Post does a great job of answering these questions.

The bottom lines? NASA is still alive and kicking with half of it's funding going toward manned spaceflight endeavors such as the Commercial Crew Program, Orion, and the International Space Station while the other half going toward unmanned project such as Mars rovers and telescopes.  And all of this is funded by only 0.5% of the national budget.  You could cut NASA out, but it's hardly going to fix any of our countries financial woes.  In fact, it may add to them since studies estimate a $7-$14 return on every dollar that NASA spends.  This is in the forms of employment of over 50,000 employees, generating revenue for the states that house NASA centers, and of course funneling billions into space related technologies.  And these technologies do benefit us here on Earth.  NASA research has impacted the development of water filters, MRI machines, and it basically created the catalyst for the entire microelectronics industry that has enabled us to all walk around with tiny little computer phones in our pockets.

So PLEASE, read this article and read the links in it and familiarize yourself with just how AWESOME NASA allows our lives to be...

In other news, idiot politicians want to turn the moon landing sites into National Historical Parks.  How are you going to enforce and upkeep those, huh???  And who exactly is going to visit?

(Image of Astronaut Chris Cassidy from this past Tuesday's space walk, found here)