Research Essay

Technological and Medicinal Benefits of Space Exploration

Atithi Patel

University of the Sciences in Philadelphia

December 2, 2013

WR 100-03

Abstract

In the last 50 years, NASA’s budget has been unfairly reduced to less than 5% of the federal budget spending. Space exploration has been frowned upon for several years by financial advisors. The decrease in budget is a result of the belief that is followed by many that space exploration is a waste of time and money that could be spent on other more vital resources such as electricity and food. However, space exploration has provided the world with many technological and medicinal benefits that protect, improve and save lives every day. Most of these innovations are unknowingly used every day around the world. This paper describes the copious benefits of space exploration to encourage investment in NASA.

Technological and Medicinal Benefits of Space Exploration

Dear President Obama,

Neil Armstrong once said after his first walk on the moon, “The important achievement of Apollo was demonstrating that humanity is not forever chained to this planet and our visions go rather further than that and our opportunities are unlimited” (Romero, 2005). Launching Apollo 11 to the moon and successfully returning back to the Earth was one of the most prestigious achievements for America. However, the innovations and benefits that came along were the ones that lasted longer than the victory itself. There have been voluminous protests against investment in space exploration. Many of these protestors believe that the investment in space exploration should instead be used for other resources such as electricity and farming. Nevertheless, space exploration has given birth to several technological and medicinal innovations that benefit the lives of humans every day. Thus, it is vital to keep investing in space explorations to support the technologically advanced and growing world today.

Many financial advisors believe...