Neil deGrasse Tyson: We Stopped Dreaming - Part 1

"I'm tired of saying this but I'm gonna say it again: 'The NASA budget is one fourth of one penny of a tax dollar...so I will not accept a statement that says we can't afford it.

"Do you realize that the $850 billion bailout money; that sum is greater than the entire 50-year running budget of NASA. And so when somebody says, 'We don't have enough money for the space program,' I'm asking, 'No, it's it's not that you don't have enough money; it's that the distribution of money you're spending is warped in some way, in that you are removing something that gives something for people to dream about for tomorrow: The Home of Tomorrow, The City of Tomorrow, The Transportation of Tomorrow. All of that ended in the 1970s - after we stopped going to the Moon. It all ended - we stopped dreaming.

"And so I worry that the decisions of Congress doesn't factor in the consequences of those decisions on Tomorrow. They're playing for the Quarterly Report, they're playing for the next election cycle - and that is mortgaging the actual future of this nation - Tomorrow's gone.

"If you double NASA's budget - or be bold: Make it a penny, make it a penny - that would be good enough to go to Mars soon, with people and back to the Moon and onto to asteroids.

"NASA, as far as I can judge, is a force of nature, like none other. And so it worries me that if you take away the manned program, which, if you advance the frontier, heroes are made. There's a force operating on the educational pipeline that will stimulate the formation of scientists, engineers, mathematicians and technologists. You birth these people into society: They're the ones that make Tomorrow come.

"A half a penny: that buys the Space Shuttle, all the NASA centers, the rovers, the Hubble Telescope, all the astronauts - all of that. Nobody's dreaming about tomorrow anymore. The most powerful agency on the dreams of a nation is currently underfunded, to do what it needs to be doing - and that's making dreams come true. How much would you pay for the universe?" --Neil deGrasse Tyson

Evan Schurr

www.penny4nasa.org

WRITE TO CONGRESS:

The intention of this project is to stress the importance of advancing the space frontier and is focused on igniting scientific curiosity in the general public.

Facebook cover: (not sure who made this but thank you!)

*FOR THOSE SAYING THE MUSIC IS TOO LOUD* This is the adjusted one http://youtu.be/Fl07UfRkPas

I give immense credit to The Sagan Series for providing the inspiration for this video.

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