A
recent blog fro
m a friend of mine made the charge that 'NASA sucks', specifically the money spent during the 1960s and 1970s on the Apollo program. Seeing this charge made me see red, and I had to go back later to finish reading the post. There are few things the United States Government spends budget money on that I will defend as vociferously as I will the space program. The crux of her argument seems to be that too much money was spent, and that money could have been spent more effectively somewhere else. This is not a new argument; it is the main argument that led to the budget hamstringing that started under Johnson and continued under Nixon.
The Cost Aspect
There is a handy graph
here, courtesy of Wikipedia.
In adjusted figures, NASA has cost the American tax payer around $810 billion dollars since 1958, coming to an average of around $16 billion per years. While this may stagger you at first, consider that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost us around $600 billion dollars in the past seven years.
Also consider that in 1968, one year before the Apollo 11 landing, NASA was given a $5 billion budget as opposed to the $26 billion spent on Johnson's Great Society programs. I would say that even during the height of the Space Race we were, in fact, spending 5:1 on social welfare programs such as the beginnings of Social Security, etc. I see little to complain about on this one. Comparing to modern day figures, NASA is projected to be budgeted around $21 billion. Compare that to the projected spending of
$610 billion on Social Security alone in 2008. What is that, a 29:1 ratio of spending? I may be doing my ratios wrong.
The estimated total cost of the Space Transportation System, what everyone knows as the Space Shuttle, when it is slated to retire in 2010 will be about $174 billion. Compare that to the $700 billion bailout package just passed by the Congress, an expenditure in a very short amount of time compared to the almost 50 years of spending on the Shuttle. I would say that spending on Project Apollo alone, compared to the benefits, was well worth it. I also have always considered the decline in the NASA budget is one of the great travesties of the last 50 years.
(I've been trying to adjust figures for inflation, etc., where possible. Some things might not add up, lemme know.)
Technological Legacy of Project ApolloNASA has always been very keen on explaining their own value to the public, mostly because these kind of questions do often come up.
I am quoting directly from NASA in some cases:Cool Suits kept Apollo astronauts comfortable during moon walks, are today
worn by race car drivers, nuclear reactor technicians, shipyard workers,
people with multiple sclerosis and kids with a congenital disorder known
as hypohidrotic ectodermal displasia.
Special kidney dialysis machines
were developed as a result of a NASA developed chemical process that
could remove toxic waste from used dialysis fluid.
A
cardiovascular conditioner developed for astronauts in space led to the development
of a physical therapy and athletic development machine used by football
teams, sports clinics and medical rehabilitation centers.
Athletic shoe design and
manufacture also benefited from Apollo. Space suit technology is incorporated
into a shoe's external shell. A stress-free "blow
molding" process adapted from NASA space suit design is also
used in the shoe's manufacture.
Insulation barriers made of aluminum foil laid over a core of propylene or mylar,
which protected astronauts and their spacecraft's delicate instruments
from radiation, is used to protect cars and trucks and dampen engine and
exhaust
noise.
Vacuum metallizing techniques led to an extensive line of commercial products,
from insulated outer garments to packaging for foods, from wall coverings
to window shades, from life rafts to candy wrappings and from reflective
blankets to photographic
reflectors.
Water purification technology used on the Apollo spacecraft is now employed in
several spinoff applications to kill bacteria, viruses and algae in community
water supply systems and cooling towers. Filters mounted on faucets can
reduce lead in water supplies.
A hollow retroreflector, a mirror-like instrument that reflects light and other
radiation back to the source, is used as a sensor to detect the
presence of hazardous gases in oil fields, refineries, offshore platforms,
chemical
plants, waste storage sites and other locations where gases could
be released into the
environment.
A process for bonding dry lubricant to space metals led to the development of
surface enhancement coatings, or synergistic coatings, which are used in
applications from pizza making to laser manufacture. Each coating is designed
to protect a specific metal group or group of metals to solve problems
encountered under operating conditions, such as resistance to corrosion
and wear.
So, that in and of itself is an impressive list of technological derivatives from Project Apollo. What else?
How about LED lights, highway grooving, aircraft anti-icing, solar energy? Not to mention the leaps and bounds made in computers, global communications, satellite communication, data transfer, mathematics, science, etc. The guidance computers used in Apollo are cited as one of the earliest catalysts for the development of integrated circuits. Did you know that the Apollo DSKY guidance computer operated with less computing power than a TI-83 Calculator, and it put astronauts in such a precise location that we never lost a crew due to navigational error? Velcro, fluorescent lighting, and insulation all either started with or were greatly developed by the space program.
In SummaryOkay, so, I never got around to finish it and I've lost my train of thought. Basically, the last thing I wanted to talk about was the emotional appeal to humanity, and the good the trips to the moon did.
Right before Christmas in 1968, NASA launched Apollo 8. Apollo 8 was the first flight to circumnavigate the moon. The Command Module only was launched with Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders. They orbited the moon 10 times and then returned to earth. Some of you may have heard, or read about, their reading of the Creation story on Christmas Eve as they orbited the moon. Some of you may also remember, or have read about, many of the social upheavals at home during 1968. If my memory serves me correctly, both MLK and RFK were killed in 1968, and the Civil Rights movement was sparking riots at home. When the crew of Apollo 8 returned home, they recieved a letter from a woman that said "You saved 1968". I always thought that was really neat.
The first landing on the moon brought the whole world together to watch. A great number of people that watched it can tell you exactly where they were, much as they can tell you where they were when John Kennedy was shot, or like I can tell you where I was on September 11. It was a peaceful gesture of exploration, one of the pinnacles of science and human achievement. I, personally, can not think of emphatic enough praise for it, or say anything that will show how important it is in my mind.
I will tell you that, if given the choice, I would go to the Moon as a colonist if it meant I could never go back to Earth. I would give up almost everything that I have to repeat that journey, and until the day that I die, I will look at the moon and wish I could go there.
Many of you have heard me talk, tongue-in-cheek, about the Fuzzy Wuzzies down in Bongo-Bongo Land. I am not insensitive to the plights of those less fortunate than myself. I am well aware that tonight there will be people sleeping on the street while I'm sleeping in my delightful bed in my big house with my parents who love me. I am also realistic about helping those people. Does anyone here honestly believe that the money spent on the Space program would make a defining difference in the war on poverty? On drugs? Does anyone here think that what we did in those nine years, or what we have done since, has been worthless? Does anyone here truly not see the benefits it has brought us? I personally think everyone here is capable of seeing that, and I will never understand opposition to the exploration of space.
What if, when Christopher Columbus found America, he came home, told everyone, and we never went back?
Comments (10)
Not to mention that a large portion of those $$ spent were in wages earned, either be NASA employees, contractors or employees of manufacturers of products or services used by NASA.
Space travel is worth it. Who wouldn't want to go to space? I thought every American is pro-Space travel.
I believe that NASA also had a large role in the development of UV blocking sunglasses somewhere in the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo line of programs.
I'd be willing to bet that we could right now throw $810 Billion at cancer research or third world countries or social welfare programs, or our schools, or really just about anything else and it wouldn't make much difference. Granted I tend to be a little cynical but we already throw huge amounts of money at all of those things people want us to throw the money at and we haven't had much return on our investment.
Thank you for writing this.
"Space travel is not an option we choose. It's a desire written in the human heart" -- George W. Bush
Regardless of what people may think of the man, he spoke truth when he said that.
Lubricant? Space lube?
...Okay, since it is 4:30 AM at this point (and you know me) I'm hoping you'll forgive me that.
As for the Fuzzy Wuzzies down in Bongo-Bongo land, some of them still throw spears at us when we try to get close anyway. I think they're just fine without our funding.
Have you seen the HBO series "From the Earth to the Moon"? It's excellent. You'd love it. Our space program was worth it for all the reasons you mentioned. Good post here.
@BigToePeople - I own it.
Oh man, if WE, and in Americans, don't develop space stuff, flight, equiptment, etc, etc . . . what do you think the ramifications are going to be?? Helloooo, China? Japan? RUSSIA??? They're going to get on the moon and point a freakin' futuristic death ray (or Nuke if you don't want to get all sci-fi) right at the US. Space programs are definately NOT a waste of our money.
What if, when Christopher Columbus found America, he came home, told everyone, and we never went back?
Hmm man that is the wrong question to ask.
Let's see, my nation, and the other nations that inhabited this land would have continued to live in peace and prosperity. The inhabitants of the European continents and the British Kingdoms would have revolted and changed their own nations and brought peace to a greater area of the world, instead of bringing a desperate indentured invasion force to our continent.
However, the past being the past, I do agree with your wonderful post on the NASA program. We must have it as a society, what will we strive for, what will we challenge ourselves with if we give this up?
Most people don't know anything about what NASA does. They think it is just men playing with rockets in an oversize game of "king of the mountain." Hopefully, those folks never have to go to the hospital and receive any of the lifesaving treatments engineered by this greedy agency that "sucks."
By the way, if Christopher Columbus discovered America - why is it named after Amerigo Vespucci?