Philosophy Paper

Alex Fioravante

Philosophy 101

12/8/12

Argument Assignment Essay

“Funding of NASA Must Continue!”

“To improve life here, To Extend life there, To find life beyond.” This is the vision statement of NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a government funded agency created in 1958 that is responsible for our country’s space exploration and research program. NASA was created during the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidency when there was a strong national desire to beat the Soviet Union in the “space race” and to be the first country to put a man on the Moon. This mission was accomplished by NASA’s Apollo 11 space flight in July 1969 (Tyson 4-5). In the 1960s, the American people were so excited about the space program that they believed that “by 1985, there will be thousands of people living and working in space.” (57). However, the hopes and dreams of space exploration has now been replaced with a debate over whether the space exploration program should be eliminated or should U.S. Government funding of NASA continue. This paper will present both sides of this argument along with the pros and cons of each argument. Based on the supporting premises presented, NASA technology has had a large impact that benefits Americans’ lives everyday and NASA’s budget is such a small part of the U.S. Government’s total annual budget. Therefore, the U.S. Government funding of NASA should continue.

With the current economic debt, the difficulty in finding employment, and the desire to help people in need, government funding of NASA has become a target of criticism. NASA receives $17.8 billion for the year 2012. This is a huge amount of money because space exploration is expensive. For example, it will cost $8.8 billion to build and operate the new James Webb Space Telescope and NASA estimates that it could cost $100 billion for a manned flight mission to revisit the moon (Tyson 56). Critics argue that our government should redirect this money back into social...