4 ms·
I question the assertion that it was too expensive given the costs of programs like the F-35, Afghanistan, Gulf War 1 & 2, or Reagan’s SDI program.
by wombatpm 4y ago
I question the assertion that it was too expensive given the costs of programs like the F-35, Afghanistan, Gulf War 1 & 2, or Reagan’s SDI program.
- stevenjgarner 4y agoApples and oranges. You are comparing NASA spending to military expenditures (F-35, Afghanistan, Gulf War 1 & 2, or Reagan’s SDI program). In 2020 the US GDP was 20.94 trillion USD [1]. In the same year, NASA's budget was $22.6 billion [2], less than 0.11% of GDP, while US military spending was around 766.58 billion USD [3], roughly 3.66% of GDP. Other sources place US military spending 16%-21.9% of GDP from 1996 to 2015 [5]. In other words, NASA's budget was approximately 3% of the military budget (and maybe as little as 0.5%). NASA's budget has been less than 1% of the federal budget since 1975 [4]. [1] https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gross-domestic-product https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gross-domestic-product [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA [3] https://www.statista.com/statistics/272473/us-military-spending-from-2000-to-2012/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/272473/us-military-spend... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA#/media/File:NASA-Budget-Federal.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA#/media/File:NAS... [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States#Budget_by_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_...