United States Space Budget

Question

How much taxes could the U.S. government give back to the working people if we would quit wasting money on the Space Program to find

out answers which are not as important as letting regular working

people have a decent take home wage!

Answer 1

The space program has consistently demonstrated a positive return on investment.

It's a common misconception that NASA's budget is huge.  It is, in fact, routinely funded at an order of magnitude lower levels than internal assistance programs, and generally two orders of magnitude less than defense.

Ironically much of the tax money appropriate for space exploration is spent toward American industries, allowing regular people to continue to take home a decent wage.

Answer 2

I agree. They should shut down NASA and we should be able to keep the money. I would also like to see Medicare shut down. And social security. I haven't seen a dime from either.

For that matter, I would like to shut down any money to foreign aid. And stop giving money to homeless programs. I have never had a fire in my house, so I would like to see my local fire department shut down. And most police could be fired as well.

And don't even get me started about the Army!

I like your ideas. I would vote for you for president. And I want my money back in the form of Hannah Montana concert tickets and magazines that talk about Lindsay Lohan.

Answer 3

Without the space program we wouldn't have developed man made satellites.  Without satellites, there would be no cell phones, internet, or worldwide TV broadcasts.  We also use satellites for weather forecasting and national defense.

There's no way of knowing what important developments will come from the things we're learning in space now.

It's well worth the money.

Answer 4

Honestly -- Very, very little.  

The budget isn't very large to begin with, but the money spent on the space program is is an investment in technology -- most of the budget is spent doing research for applications on Earth, to make everyone's lives better with more efficient, environmentally friendly technology.  A very small portion of the budget is devoted to, say, putting a probe on Mars, that is just some of the most visible work NASA does (NOT the most important).

Also, NASA is a US-based company with US taxpaying workers.  Almost all of the money goes right back to the government and economy when the engineers pay taxes and spend their money domestically.

Answer 5

Tax rates are set and the money is spent not to accomplish something but to keep you poor and working. So if they shut down NASA you would not see a dime.

Answer 6

The entire budget for the space program from the beginning until the end of the Apollo program cost each person living in America at the time 5 cents per day.  5 cents a day...and we got all the spin-off technology along with weather satellites, communication satellites, GPS, etc, etc...

That same budget would have only run the then Department of Health, Education, and Welfare for 10 days.  

We don't spend enough money on the space program.