Nasa Successes

and Failures
By Zack Ramsey
 Overview

• Nasa has been an influential but what were

some notable successes and failures. I'll be
talking about things like the Hubble Space
Telescope and a few disasters.
Nasa History
• Nasa has had a nearly 50-year
history where they have sent
things to space including humans
and animals. They sent the first
people to the moon in 1969.
Those were monumental
accomplishments, but they have
had setbacks and failures in that
time too.
Successes

• The most notable successes that I'll be

mentioning are the Hubble Space
Telescope, The Mars Rover, the
International Space Station, and the
possibility of commercial space travel.
The Hubble Space
Telescope

• The telescope launched in 1990 and has

since then given us information on things
like the life cycles of stars, blackholes,
and distance in our universe. Nasa now
knows “that at least some of these
clusters are disk-like" (Dalcanton)
 The Mars Rover

• Nasa has taken responsibility in discovering

if life could have existed on mars. This rover
though almost failed during a period
called “seven minutes of terror”(Matthews)
but with their fast thinking they managed to
salvage it and since its landing it has studied
many aspects of the planet.
 The International
Space Station
• The international Space station is a
satellite in space where people from
around the globe can come together to
research the effects of zero gravity on
many things. Some people stay on the
shuttle for long times such
as “Williams has been aboard the
station since December 2006”
(Pellerin)
 International Space Station Information

• This is a zone of neutrality where international

conflicts do not matter allowing research to
happen freely by people around the world.
People mainly speak in English and Russia. The
station is currently orbiting just above China.
A step into modernity and the future
• The 21st century has been planned and seen as a time of when there
would be flying cars, robot butlers, and trips through space well sadly
that hasn’t happened yet, but Nasa has made plans to work on
commercial space travel.
Commercial • Many people have dreamed to go to space but aren't meant to be
astronauts. Nasa has planned to start working on commercial space travel
Space Travel through third party companies.
Failures
• The most notable failures that will be mentioned are the Columbia
and Challenger disasters. These were notable rockets that exploded
either at launch or reentry into the atmosphere. I will also be
questioning whether or not Nasa's expenses are worth it.
Columbia Disaster

• This was a rocket that was damaged on launch and then when it was
entering the atmosphere the damage proved to be too much to the rocket
to handle. “The theory that a piece of foam may have damaged the wing
was proposed. It was quickly dismissed too, as not being possible for the
foam to cause such a catastrophic failure.” (Guthrie, Shayo)
Columbia
Disaster
Video
Challenger Disaster
• The challenger disaster was an instance
where a rocket exploded on launch in
1986. This was very notable because of
the casualties and how easily it could
have been avoided. “Schools and
science centers across the country are
named for her. In New Hampshire, we
have the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery
Center, an air and space museum and
planetarium, as well as the Christa
McAuliffe School, an elementary school
in Concord. There have even been an
asteroid and a crater on the moon
named after her.” (Shaheen)
 Impact on Nasa

• After both disasters Nasa

has increased their safety
measures and how strict
they are about safety and
has honored and accepted
their failures as a learning
moment. Christa McAuliffe
has had many buildings and
monuments named after
her.
Is Nasa an expensive
waste?

• Each of Nasa's missions can cost billions of

dollars even if they never make it off the
ground. The previously mentioned Hubble
Space Telescope cost around 2 billion
dollars to make and hundreds of millions to
maintain.
Nasa funding
• Every year Nasa has a budget of 22.6
billion dollars but in comparison to the
United States military that is a very small
amount.
Budget in comparison
to the National
Budget

• The only time the

percentage was
above 1% of the
national budget
was at the hight
of the space
race.
Conclusion
• Nasa has been an
expensive program that has
had many successes and
failures, but these
successes tend to outweigh
the failures.
 • Dalcanton, Julianne J. "18 years of science with the Hubble Space Telescope." Nature, vol. 457, no. 7225, 2009, p. 41+.
Gale In Context: Science, https://link-gale-
com.proxy039.nclive.org/apps/doc/A192061371/SCIC?u=ncliveclcc&sid=SCIC&xid=7a9d78ab. Accessed 23 Feb. 2020.

• Guthrie, R., and C. Shayo. The Columbia Disaster: Culture, Communication & Change. IGI Global, Hershey, 2005.
ProQuest, https://login.proxy039.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/192334713?accountid=1
0163.

• "Is NASA an Expensive Failure?"Nature, vol. 366, no. 6457, 1993, pp. 723. ProQuest,

• https://login.proxy039.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/204440606?accountid=10163

• Matthews, Mark K. "Success! NASA Lands Rover on Mars and Begins Two Year Mission."McClatchy - Tribune Business
News, Aug 06, 2012.
ProQuest, https://login.proxy039.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1031162854?accountid=
10163.\

Works Cited •

•
“NASA History.” Congressional Digest, vol. 90, no. 7, Sept. 2011, p. 196. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=65456631&site=ehost-live.

"NASA selects first commercial moon landing services for Artemis Program."Space Daily, 5 June 2019. Gale General
OneFile, https://link-gale-
com.proxy039.nclive.org/apps/doc/A587759037/ITOF?u=shel41774&sid=ITOF&xid=9b0c154e. Accessed 23 Feb. 2020.

• Pellerin, Cheryl.Next International Space Station Crew to Launch April 7: NASA and International Partners Set for Busy
Year Ahead in Space.Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc, Washington, 2007.
ProQuest, https://login.proxy039.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/189980220?accountid=1
0163.

• Shaheen Statement on Anniversary of Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster. Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc,
Washington, 2020.
ProQuest, https://login.proxy039.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/2347353895?accountid=
10163.