Our Friend NASA

In previous debates, the American space program has come up repeatedly as an example of bloated government, poor management practices, and basically a waste of taxpayer money. While some of these points may be true, NASA has indeed had an effect on our daily lives.

NASAsolutions is a site that details some of the day-to-day 2nd round benefits of the Space program. Yes, private space research is probably more cost effective. Yes, these products could've been developed cheaper privately. However, the fact is that space research was until recently, public only, and we should be glad we have these products, even if the American taxpayer overpaid for them.

Examples:

• Home Insulation


• Smoke Detectors


• Cool laser heart surgery


• Sports helmet padding


• Satellites

If you sit down and actually flip through the site, I think it'll be much harder for you to argue that NASA has no effect on your life, and that it was a complete waste of money.