Abstract This essay touches on the issue of NASA funding. It tries to persuade NASA as well as the government to increase funding for NASA’s manned space missions. It uses substantial evidence from many sources to help make its argument valid as well as persuasive. Within the essay there is a brief introduction stating the thesis for the topic followed by a background section. This section helps to better explore the topic at hand. The main body of the argument revolves around the reasons with evidence for the thesis statement with refutation. Finally, the conclusion draws everything together by restating the thesis with reasons, and helping to better answer the question of whether funding should be increased for the space program.

Introduction
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind!” These words of Neil Armstrong as he took his first steps onto the moon signified one of the greatest achievements of the modern world, and the American space program. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration have been responsible for many stupendous achievements not only for the U.S., but for humans abroad. As of February 2006, their mission statement has been to, “pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.” What is the ultimate goal of NASA’s work? Do all of the discoveries we make benefit the general population? Will exploring the universe and searching for life on other planets help us gain the big picture of where we fit in? From the time it was created in 1958 up to the present age, NASA has made numerous breakthroughs in the fields mentioned, as well as science and technology. The human interaction is by far the most astounding when it comes to these discoveries. The Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, as well as the International Space Station were some of the greatest accomplishments by man ever. In the years following the Space Race, however, there have been many questions on where the future of space exploration lies, and whether NASA’s program is worth holding onto. NASA is all but too eager to launch more missions that they might not have the funding for at this point. They are ready to explore the concept of sending humans to Mars and maybe other planets that lie further away. The big question comes up then, should funding for NASA’s space science be increased? To condense this question down even further for purposes, one could ask, should NASA see an increase in its funding for human missions? With the retirement of the shuttle program on July 8 2011, NASA does not have an edge on other competition in space. The program is missing one of the key components in what helped to make it one of the greatest institutions in the world. NASA should see an increase in its funding for human space missions because they far outweigh other programs the federal government pours money into, the discoveries we make in these missions allow us to advance in knowledge and survival as a collective society, we must find solutions to deal with overpopulation as the problem grows, and they are much more productive in gaining research than robotic missions.
Background
NASA’s space shuttle program had originally been launched in a more formal arrangement on January 5, 1972, by President Nixon. Even before that however, the program was used in the early sixties and seventies for many of the manned missions into space. The core of NASA’s work in that time was concentrated on human missions. The Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions, the Skylab and International Space Station, and many other shuttle events have taken place under the program. Mercury was the first project that initiated the want of human space exploration in 1958, and constituted that test pilots be tested to see if man could survive in space. At this time the Soviet Union had already sent the first human into space just one month before. Yuri Gagarin had orbited the earth one time in an hour and forty-eight minutes. This event sparked the American program to crush the Soviets in their quest for space. Alan Shepard was chosen and on May 5, 1961, he became the first American to venture into space. He piloted the Mercury Redstone 3 for fifteen minutes on a suborbital flight. Then there was the feat of a full orbit around the earth. John Glenn became the first American to do so on February 20, 1962. These two flights marked an enormous leap in what Americans and mankind could achieve. It is no secret that the Russians achieved the feat of the first human mission, but without their rivalry the U.S. would have not gained the drive to take measures for further power and control in space exploration. The man missions of Mercury were crucial in the development of the future of our program. Project Gemini had been created to practice conducting experiments, techniques for missions, gathering data on the effects of weight in space, and to test out long duration space flight for humans. Gemini 3, which was the first manned by astronauts, launched on March 23, 1965. The pilots were Gus Grissom and John Young. The Gemini missions constituted in the first American spacewalk as well as the discovering that docking of another spacecraft were possible. Perhaps the biggest feat ever to come out of the program was the Apollo missions. Apollo 8 was the second manned mission which orbited the pilots around the moon for the first time. In his presidency, John F. Kennedy vowed that the U.S. program would not only match some of the events the Soviets had done years earlier, but also that they would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. In July of 1969 the American people watched as two men took the first steps ever on the moon’s surface. Neil Armstrong was the first human ever to set foot on the moon, and the second was Buzz Aldrin. The event of the moon landing became so monumentally important to the American spirit, as it showed just how far humans could go to achieve greatness. The nation came together and was proud of something that was achieved without the use of violence or brutal acts. Above that, it was a major breakthrough in human flight, landing humans on another celestial body, and traveling beyond low Earth orbit. Many Apollo missions came after that and furthered our interest in research on the moon and space. After the success of the piloted missions, efforts were put towards Skylab. This was the U.S first space station. It was independently built and was launched on May 14, 1973. Three crews occupied the station for 171 days in 1973 and 1974. The many purposes of the station were to study microgravity and the effects of solar energy. The International Space Station was a joint project that combined the Japanese Kibo laboratory, the Russian Mir-2 module, the American Freedom module, and the European Columbus module. Construction began for the project in 1998 with the completion of the U.S. segment in 2011. The station can be seen from earth and the construction is ongoing. The creation of the Space Station is a feat in this day and age that not only shows the unity of other countries programs, but also the emergence of sending humans into space to live for extended amounts of time.
Argument
The discoveries and advancements we make in man missions far outweigh the benefits of funding other government programs. Americans perceive that NASA uses much more of the federal budget than it actually does. In 1997 it was estimated that Americans thought NASA used twenty percent of the federal budget to do its work. That number was much higher and a far cry from the actual zero point five percent to the one percent it maintained throughout the decade. The government subsidizes more programs that discourage people to not work than the entire NASA budget. A chart form the National Debt Awareness Center reports that as of 2011, “The amount of money being funded into NASA is less than a hundred billion dollars” (1). Further on down the chart the number for Health and Human Services and welfare is jaw dropping. Close to nine hundred billion dollars of funding is being put into a service that gives nothing back to society. The money is poured onto people that take advantage of the system rather than those who are in dire straits and really need it. If more of the funding was checked on and regulated on those who absolutely need it, the other half could be put to use in helping out NASA’s man missions. The various programs the federal budget is spent on, as well as the amount of money that is spent are illustrated in a chart distributed by the National Debt Awareness Center (see Fig. 1). Fig. 1. Comparison of the various programs the federal budget spends on. (2007-2011). Source: “How Congress Spends your Money.” Federalbudget.com. National Debt Awareness Center, 22 May 2012. Web.

The Department of Defense takes in over seven hundred billion dollars. An article from the website Helium states, “The answer lies in a budget cut elsewhere, and that should be mainly from the military, which already use amounts unfair to the taxpayer. The military cuts would straighten up the military by incentive to enforce stricter rules on equipment usage, and logs to keep from wasteful spending” (2). If we can spend so much money on the war in Iraq when we didn’t even need to be there, why can’t we fund more missions towards space exploration and knowledge? In two months’ time we spent the same as NASA’s entire budget for a year in Iraq. A growing concern for not only America but the entire planet is overpopulation. With certain resources shrinking and the population growing, it is hard to say where we are headed in terms of space on the planet. Putting money into more human missions would give us a chance to search for solutions outside of Earth. Research could be done to find other resources from other planets that we could use, and the ongoing research to colonize Mars would have a greater effect on the population. In his Presidential address in 1981, Larry J. Gordon writes, “Over one million years passed before the population of our species reached the one billion mark around 1850. Only 80 years passed before the second billion mark was reached, and in the last 45 years the population again doubled to 4 billion” (2). From this statement, there is no arguing that the earth’s population is rapidly growing and with the problems of hunger, poverty, and violence plaguing our world we need a solution that could be well within our reach. Human piloted missions have the power to search for healthier resources in space and maybe find an answer to our climate problems. As humans we are always trying to expand our minds and search for the next answer. If Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had not set foot on the moon, we would have never opened the gate to vast pools of research, knowledge, and discoveries. They landed on the dark surface of the moon and instantly made it easier for us to learn how the moon was formed and where it came from. This even connected with our understanding of Earths formation. There has not been a manned mission beyond Earth’s low orbit since the Apollo 17 mission on December 7, 1972. In 40 years we have funded five wars and done very little to nothing for the exploration of what lies beyond our planet. NASA should see an increase in funding for man missions because they allow mankind to thrive and grow. Understanding what lies beyond our blue planet is one of the only ways we will be able to gain knowledge for survival as a race. It would seem the average population is savvy to just the problems we face on earth, as well as common knowledge about the planet. However, if we stay so locked in a singular mindset we will never truly know what waits out in the abyss. We will never consider the possibilities of other life or really even question the existence of our own being. In his book, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, Carl Sagan writes, “The exploration of other worlds has opened our eyes in the study of volcanos, earthquakes, and weather. It may one day have profound implications for biology, because all life on Earth is built on a common biochemical master plan” (220). The research that has been done in our universe and planets has helped immensely in our knowledge of natural phenomena like weather and various geological matters. Better yet, man missions have the power to collect research that could point to the answer of human life. Finding a bacteria or protozoa on another planet would be monumental in the understanding of the formation of living beings and our connections with the universe. Human beings have a need to put their hands on everything to better understand it. We stand back and look at each individual discovery with many viewpoints, and are able to process it like nothing else, making the human brain the greatest computer that is known. Human missions allow for man to travel great distances to put their own subjective analysis and observation on areas that we have yet to understand.
Conclusion
NASA’s manned missions have accomplished so much from the time the program was created up until the day the shuttle program was discontinued. With little to no funding we cannot possibly expect to achieve beyond what we have done in the past. While these feats were extraordinary and paved the way for what the program would become, we must excel forward more and more, otherwise we will fall tragically behind on many levels. NASA should be more fully funded for its human missions because they outweigh many other programs the government funds, the discoveries that are made help us to advance as a collective being, the growing threat of overpopulation and dwindling resources looms closer, and they are greater at obtaining research than any robotic searcher. When Neil Armstrong took that first step onto the dusty surface of the moon, it was as if each and every one of us had walked on the moon. This was not just a feat for Americans, but for every nation and human alike. When three men dare to achieve the impossible, a whole nation rises up to walk hand in hand with them.

Works Cited
Gordon, Larry J., American Journal of Public Health, Apr. 1982, Vol. 72 Issue 4, 341-346, 6p
“How Congress Spends your Money.” Federalbudget.com. National Debt Awareness Center, 22 May 2012. Web.

“Why Funding should be increased.” Helium.com. Web.
Sagan, Carl. Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. New York: Random, 1994. Print.