NASA
Since its creation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has carried out critical missions in space exploration. The most famous mission is the Apollo program, a set of missions that put the first man on the Lunar surface in 1969. The first walk on the Moon is not the only milestone under NASA’s arm. The Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, the reusable Space Shuttle, and the Mars Science Laboratory are among many other crucial achievements in the history of humanity’s space race.
NASA is not only exploring our solar system and wide yonder. The federal agency also studies our planet Earth and, most notably, its climate, which is crucial to understand the effects of global warming. NASA also conducts research, testing, and development to advance aeronautics, including topics like aircraft capable of flying faster than the speed of sound.
The price of the agency
All the research, development, and exploration come with a high price tag. For the fiscal year 2024, the U.S. government allocated almost 27.2 billion U.S. dollars for NASA on its budget, the highest budget so far. NASA’s approved budget has followed an upward trend in the past decade. The exploration and space operation sectors are among the segments where more money has been assigned. The increase in spending for NASA follows the trend of higher expenditures on space programs around the world. The U.S. American space sector is by far the most prominent worldwide in terms of expenditure. In 2023, the U.S. launched 117 commercial space rockets, the highest number this century. The number of space launches has increased considerably in the last decade, fueled by the decrease in launch costs and the emergence of new commercial providers like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Rocket Lab.To the Moon (again), and beyond!
On December 11, 2022, the Orion spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, a thriving and vital landmark for future NASA targets. The Orion is a partially reusable crewed spacecraft, part of NASA’s Artemis program. The program aims to reestablish human presence on the Moon for the first time since the last Apollo mission in 1972. If everything goes according to plan, humans will be stepping again on lunar dust as early as 2025.According to estimates, the Artemis program projected cost through 2025 will reach approximately 93 billion U.S. dollars, including all the Phase 1 missions and some Phase 2 projects. To land the first woman and person of color on the Moon and explore the lunar surface in more detail are among the main milestones that Artemis wants to achieve. But most important for future missions is setting the foundations for sending astronauts to Mars and beyond in the coming decades.