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Nasa Research Assignment

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Submitted By OtherwiseSix
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NASA’s Space Exploration Programs: A Beneficial Investment for Society
Alex vanKooten
COMM 1133, Section 40
Marc James
Thursday, October 11, 2012

For my topic I have chosen to argue my stance that NASA and their efforts in the field of space exploration are important and beneficial to society. I plan to touch on how NASA has impacted the everyday life of the average North American and the contributions they have made while working to improve their own technologies. I will delve into both practical and abstract reasons for and against continuing space travel in addition to stating a few facts about past missions and their outcomes.
The reason that I have chosen this topic is because NASA and the space exploration being done by the human race has always been a source of inspiration to me. I’ve enjoyed growing up in a world where travelling to something as distant as the moon was an attainable feat. In a sense, the entire concept of space and how humanity was working hard to map it and research all these different planets has always given me perspective on my own life. In more recent years however I’ve been noticing more and more people taking a stance against NASA and calling their work a “waste of money”. Therefore I have elected to write an argumentative essay where I argue in favour of NASA’s research. I will try to convince people who think the NASA’s funding should be cut that space exploration has a bigger impact on their lives than they may realize and it may be in society’s best interest to keep or even increase the current budget.
My main thesis will be something along the lines of “NASA’s Space Exploration program should be allowed to continue unabated as it has done far more good for society then any harm”. The key points I’ll try to focus on will be: * NASA’s “spin-off” contributions to modern technology * Possible future pros and cons of continuing the program * Results of past space exploration missions and their impact on society

References

NASA Spin-off Technologies. (October 8, 2012). In Wikipedia.
Retrieved October 10, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spin-off.

Declan McCullagh. (October 3, 2007). Do we need NASA?. In CNET.
Retrieved October 10, 2012, from http://news.cnet.com/2009-11397-6211308.html.

Nine Good Reasons for Space Exploration. (April 16, 2008). In The Martian Chronicles.
Retrieved October 10, 2012, from http://martianchronicles.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/nine-good-reasons-for-space-exploration/.

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