1. Assess The Main Cause Of The NASA Problem

Another cause of these problems is on the United States citizens. A large amount of Americans are either misinformed or not informed at all on what percent NASA accounts for in the national budget. In a study done by the University of Houston during 2011 and 2012, they surveyed college students on what they thought about NASA’s budget. The survey found that 68% of college students thought NASA’s budget was double what it is actually at, as a percent of the federal budget. Of those, 68%, 52% overestimated NASA’s budget by at least 10 times as much (Steinberg, 2013). This is obviously a huge problem as citizens put pressure on their representatives to do what they want. If the vast majority do not know what NASA’s budget actually is, it

Congressmen and women are the people who ultimately set the allocation amount for NASA, and they are aware of how much funding it receives. Congress has to listen to speeches from NASA's leaders telling them how underfunding is hurting not only NASA but the country in many different ways. For example, Henry Gass (2015) wrote an article about how the NASA director, Charles Bolden, addressed Congress. Bolden pleads with Congress to recognize the mistake they are making in underfunding NASA, where he talks about the benefits that NASA offers the country (Gass, 2015). Representatives policy decisions in setting the budget are the main cause for all the issues that have come about as a result of NASA being underfunded. Additionally another cause of these problems is a self perpetuating issue. A lack of interest in being inspired by science, a lack of desire to have heroes realized. A lack of ambition to push the boundaries of what is considered possible. When NASA was at its greatest, everyday people were dreaming of a better tomorrow. As NASA’s funding gradually declined so did the desire in Americans to innovate causing the

A solution that can rejuvenate the American populous, increasing innovation that benefits NASA and the regular consumer. The solution to this problem is a policy change on a federal level. This change will ultimately come from the representatives in Congress, but citizens also play a major role. Citizens can put pressure on their representatives to increase NASA’s funding through letters and petitions. The solution is doubling NASA’s budget. As stated before, the allocation currently sits at half of a percent, doubling it would bring it to one percent of the federal budget. To make this solution a reality, citizens will have to play a huge role in the process. Citizens need to tell their representatives that they are tired of being stuck in today, they want to dream about tomorrow. And NASA needs to be a leader of tomorrow’s dreams. This solution is one that is going to be a battle fought every year because Congress sets the budget for NASA on an annual basis. To raise their funding to a full 1% of the federal budget for the next 7 years. Doubling NASA’s funding is a political process, but it would affect so much more outside of the political world. Exercising this solution is a great decision that will solve the problems and the causes of these issues, while bringing great