In the wake of the most complicated Mars landing and the death of the most famous astronaut, Americans have been taking a second look at the nation’s space programs. What they may not notice, is the program’s miniscule budget. With so many important programs, now is the time to think about refunding NASA. People wrongly believe that just because there is no space race anymore that there is no need to fund the space program. In a world in which the United States is the only major space-faring nation, what is the point of spending money on programs we don’t see results from? But NASA is not just some government program throwing away tax money. It has tangible results. Satellite television, GPS, velcro and more would simply not exist had it not been for the work put into the creation and popularization of this technology by NASA. Furthermore, NASA does not even take up a significant proportion of the funding from the US government. The entire space program does not take up a sixth of the funding that the interest on our national debt does. Even at the height of the Apollo missions, space funding didn’t take up more than 3% of the US budget. The government can definitely find it in its budget to fund one of the only government programs that actually work. A big part of the problem is just how efficient NASA really is at making the most out of every dollar they are given. People can’t believe that organization involved in sending men to space, creating a space station the size of a house, and sending men to the moon can do so for such a tiny portion of the national economy. According to the Space Review, the average American believes that a quarter of the country’s budget is spent on space travel, almost fifty times the actual cost. Increasing the budget to at least one percent wouldn’t even be unprecedented for NASA. To bring its budget back up to what it was just 20 years ago would double the budget it has now. The last time that NASA had this little money was before we could even go to space. Now that we can and do, it’s important our country’s investment matches at least the levels it has been in the past.