Advantages of space exploration include fostering technological, economic growth

In my opinion, manned spaceflight has contributed more than any civilian government program to securing America’s technological and economic leadership in the world.  Since America’s astronauts landed on the Moon almost four decades ago, our space program has spawned decades of technological innovation. The benefits have far exceeded the cost of our investment, and if we want America to remain competitive for future generations, it is imperative that we support a robust spaceflight program.

How can the Federal government consider a mission to Mars when some people still struggle to buy groceries or medicine?  Certainly, the timing for such a mission must be right, but the policy question boils down to this: what do we get as a nation from the public money we spend, and is it worth the cost?  People are often surprised to learn that NASA’s budget represents only seven-tenths of one percent of the Federal budget.  This is one of the best investments we, as a country, can make. 

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of NASA, which was established in 1958 after the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite.  Sputnik’s capability represented a threat to America’s national security and technological preeminence.  Perhaps more importantly, it symbolized a larger clash of ideas between civilizations and systems of government.  NASA was tasked with the challenge of regaining the technological lead by putting a human on the Moon before the Soviets.  Considering the state of technology that existed at the time, most experts doubted that we could land a man on the moon and return safely to the Earth within a decade, but President Kennedy recognized that this goal was inspiring, challenging, and would capture the minds of everyone who witnessed it — anywhere in the world.

Today, there is still a clash of ideas among countries, and in the growing world economy, other nations are imitating many of the values and traits that have made America successful.  Developing countries are adopting policies that promote education and investment in research and technology, because they clearly understand the link between an educated workforce, technological innovation, and economic success.

America’s manned space exploration inspired generations of students, but we are falling behind other nations in the number of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) graduates.  Congress is working to improve those numbers in a host of ways, and keeping manned space exploration a top priority is one of the best motivators we could have. 

Technologies that come directly from NASA or are developed from NASA research have revolutionized industries and created new markets.  These include microelectronics used to regulate heart pumps and trigger automobile airbags, thermal blankets, digital imaging used for breast cancer screening, polarized sunglasses with UV protection, instrumentation to monitor intensive-care patients and detect cataracts in the early stages, fire-retardant paints, night-vision technology, and water filtration systems, just to name a few.  The rigorous demands of spaceflight force our industries to work to more exacting standards and tolerances, which make our products more competitive in the global marketplace.

Leadership in space exploration also captures the interests of other nations and encourages partnerships.  Today, about 60 percent of NASA’s science missions and 100 percent of human spaceflight activites are done in partnership with other nations.  Russia, Japan, and the European Union all have very capable, credible space programs, and China has recently joined the United States and Russia in the exclusive club of human space-faring nations.  But China’s human space program is run by its military, whose ambitions and long term intentions in space are still unclear.  In January of this year, China used an anti-satellite weapon to destroy one of its obsolete weather satellites, causing a world-wide orbital debris problem in space.  Productive, non-competitive, non-threatening collaborations with other space faring nations strengthens our image around the world, but it is critical that America retain our leadership because one day we could be competing for more than economic gains.

The International Space Station is arguably the most complex and difficult international engineering and construction project ever undertaken. Through NASA’s leadership, America has engaged some of the best scientific and technical minds from around the world to build an orbiting research laboratory for peaceful purposes that hopefully will yield new breakthroughs in scientific and medical research. Retiring the Space Shuttle, transitioning to commercial services to support the Space Station, and developing the new Crew Exploration Vehicle, capable of returning to the Moon and later to Mars will create new challenges, new opportunities and new discoveries.

If you ask whether we get our money’s worth for the seven-tenths of one percent of the federal budget that we spend on NASA, I will always argue that we not only get what we pay for — we also get much more.

Hall is the ranking member of the House Science and Technology Committee.

Special Section: Defense & Aerospace

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