NASA

How was NASA formed?

By Abigail

NASA; America’s space agency, what is their history and future? It was 1957; we were fighting Russia in the Cold War, but we were also having a race for technology. It was called the Space Race, and we wanted to win.

Russia launched the first satellite into space the world, and its name was Sputnik. Americans all over the country were terrified. What could this mysterious satellite do; did it have bombs or missiles? We created NASA, attempting to catch up in the Space Race; to win back our pride.

Four years later President Kennedy declared we were going to the Moon.

“First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” – John F. Kennedy. He boosted our confidence. He said in the next 10 years we’d be on Mars.

Slowly, people started to get bored of space; we stopped dreaming. By 2011 NASA’s space shuttle program retired. Congress decreased the amount of taxes going to NASA, so now they can’t even build rockets to go into space. NASA’s budget is only $0.01 for every $2.00. We depend on Russia to take us to space. We pay Russia $82,000,000 to take us to space with them. I call that a “spaceship-pool” Russia: yes, the one who scared us to creating NASA in the first place. Sad isn’t it?

“Apollo in 1969. Shuttle in 1981. Nothing in 2011. Our space program would look awesome to anyone living backwards thru time.” –Neil deGrasse Tyson

We still have hope of going into space though. Commercial companies are funded by Congress. A commercial company is a company run by a private company. If NASA and commercial companies work together, we can go to space. Some examples of commercial companies are Boeing and SpaceX. Commercial companies can also be a threat, because they could replace NASA.

Think of all the things we can achieve with dreams. Even though NASA has a small budget, people still believe that they will go to space one day. Now you know the story of NASA, the space agency made from fear, and the people who stopped imagining our future; think, will we ever imagine things again?

“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it we go nowhere”

-Carl Sagan