NASA

I.S.R.O. is sending people/satellites to space with very few bucks as compared to NASA.

Aside from that diaper astronaut, I think you can't go wrong w/the advancements that NASA has made in space.

It needs restructuring, but learning all we can about the Earth, and the universe surrounding it  is pretty informative.

Besides faking those moon landings, what have they done lately? (joking, joking....)

Its good I suppose,  but why not spend that billions of dollars on other stuff like renewable energy,  towards discovering alternative fuels

Well how else are we going to get off this rock?

People call NASA a waste of money, but the military and the space program together have pushed the advance of science and technology. Picture where we would be without Kennedy's big dream realized, and all the motivation that gave us.

We have found so many elements and made new products that we have taken for granted today because of NASA. I think we need to know about what is outside of us.Out of a $2.4 trillion budget, less than 0.8% is spent on the entire space program! That's less than 1 penny for every dollar spent. The average American spends more of their budget on their cable bill, eating out or entertainment than this yet the benefits of space flight are remarkable. It has been conservatively estimated by U.S. space experts that for every dollar the U.S. spends on R and D in the space program, it receives $7 back in the form of corporate and personal income taxes from increased jobs and economic growth. Besides the obvious jobs created in the aerospace industry, thousands more are created by many other companies applying NASA technology in nonspace related areas that affect us daily. One cannot even begin to place a dollar value on the lives saved and improved lifestyles of the less fortunate. Space technol... Read more

I like their mission statement and the ideals that are represented, but NASA is a perfect example of corporate welfare run amok. R&D; costs are socialized ( beared by the taxpayer ) while the profits from the NASA contractors remain very much in private hands - Technology from this big-business-big-government merger will occasionally trickle down to us consumers, but even then, I can't think of one thing they've done that private enterprise couldn't do better or more efficiently. There are a lot better things to spend 16.2 billion dollars a year on, I would think. I'd say NASA was necessary, maybe 30-40 years ago, but now they're nothing more than AMTRACK with rocket-boosters and better PR.

The coolest government organization. Nuff' said. The missions have given common society everything from velcro to advanced personal computers to help with bone density diseases. On a bigger whole, they've given the American people something to truly be proud of (the Moon landing, Space Shuttle, ISS) and something more to strive for (George W. Bush's exciting return-to-Moon-and-go-to-Mars program). The future of humanity is in space, and NASA is leading the way there.

Though NASA does provide valuable research opportunities, it's very scary how many simple mistakes they've made in the past which have endangered the lives of the people they've sent up there and wasted billions of dollars. All it takes is a miscalculation due to conversions (There's a BIG difference in centimeters and inches, especially when dealing with big numbers), or a simple but really bad judgement call (when the engineers say that it's a bad idea to launch due to the temperatures being too low, you should probably listen to them), and that huge investment is lost. Yes, space exploration is great and should be continued. But, I think a little more focus on "attention to detail" would greatly improve things.

You are kidding? They cover up everything, including there incompetance.

An expenditure of taxpayer money that is neither constitutional nor particularly important in comparison to other national needs/issues. All of what NASA does could be better handled by the private sector ... a lot like grade school education.

The space program has helped our country develop a lot of important technology. Although NASA requires a lot of tax payer money to fund, overall I feel that it is a helpful thing.