Happy Birthday! NASA celebrates 50 years

And for a little economic perspective: in its entire 50-year history NASA has spent a total of only (in 2007 dollar value) $810.459 billion – a sum dwarfed by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, set to cost a total of $2.4 trillion by 2017. Despite consuming a fraction of a percent of the annual budget, NASA is forced to beg for every penny. And despite advancing to a manned lunar mission in 12 years, we are now unable to send a man to the moon even if we wanted to. In 2004, George W Bush announced the Vision for Space Exploration, which outlines a road map to put a man on Mars. NASA, and other space agencies, tentatively project such an expedition by 2050.

This year’s presidential candidates have been unapologetic about dipping into NASA funding, with Senator Obama claiming that NASA is “no longer inspiring.” His opinion is presumably shared by the children in the UK who believe Winston Churchill was the first man on the moon. Yet, in looking at NASA’s history, it is tempting to believe that instead of chipping away at the funding and relevancy of NASA, and claiming a manned mission to Mars is too difficult and unrewarding, we should create an ultimatum, and commit to accomplishing the fantastic simply because it’s fantastic. In the words of Kennedy: “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”

And the ripples will continue to move outwards, in ever wider circles.

Kyle Sherer

To learn more see NASA's interactive feature celebrating 50 years of exploration.