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NASA RETURNS EXCEPTIONAL VALUE

NASA’s unique mission provides benefits in big and small ways. Dollars spent for space exploration create jobs, jumpstart businesses, and grow the economy. Our innovations improve daily life, advance medical research, support disaster response, and more. We’re constantly evolving and finding new ways to add value.
NASA’s economic impact is nationwide, extending to all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

NASA Strengthens the Economy

NASA Improves Life

NASA Fosters American Innovation

NASA Builds Bridges

NASA Inspires

Earth observation taken by Expedition 65 crew

NASA Strengthens the Economy

Each state plays a role in space exploration and discovery, including the Artemis program to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon. The impact of NASA spending is spread across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

We released the third agencywide economic impact report in 2024, using data from the 2023 fiscal year. The report estimates that during that period NASA generated more than $75 billion in total economic output; supported nearly 304,803 jobs nationwide; and resulted in an estimated $9.5 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenues

Read the Economic Impact Report

These photos and videos show how technicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans installed the second of four RS-25 engines onto the core stage for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will help power NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission to the Moon. Crews added the second engine, with the serial number E2047 in position one, to the stage Sept. 15. The serial number for the engine installed Sept. 11 in position two on the core stage is E2059. Engineers consider the engines to be “soft” mated to the rocket stage. Following soft mate of all four engines, technicians with NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company and the RS-25 engines lead contractor, along with Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, will fully secure the engines to the stage and integrate the propulsion and electrical systems within the structure. All four RS-25 engines are located at the base of the core stage within the engine section. NASA is working to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with Orion and the Gateway in orbit around the Moon. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.

Technicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans install the second of four RS-25 engines onto the core stage for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will help power NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission to the Moon.

NASA/ Eric Bordelon

NASA Improves Life

NASA ensures inventions for space find practical uses closer to home.

The International Space Station has led to many spinoffs and facilitated numerous technological and scientific advancements. Research in space helps improve health on Earth, from understanding bone loss to developing vaccines to improving eye surgery.

Using the space station and NASA satellites, we study Earth from space. NASA data helps predict the weather, monitor natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires, and study long-term climate trends.

Expedition 71 Flight Engineer and NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson works in the BioFabrication Facility's portable glovebag located in the International Space Station's Columbus laboratory module. She was working on the Redwire Cardiac Bioprinting Investigation that may offer the ability to print food and medicines for future space crews. Results may also enable the bioprinting of replacement organs and tissues potentially alleviating the shortage of donor organs on Earth.

Expedition 71 Flight Engineer and NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson works in the BioFabrication Facility’s portable glovebag located in the International Space Station’s Columbus laboratory module. She was working on the Redwire Cardiac Bioprinting Investigation that may offer the ability to print food and medicines for future space crews. Results may also enable the bioprinting of replacement organs and tissues potentially alleviating the shortage of donor organs on Earth.

NASA

NASA Fosters American Innovation

We invest in cutting-edge technologies to help maintain America’s competitive advantage.

We invest in cutting-edge technologies to help maintain America’s competitive advantage. Advancements in flight thanks to NASA include commercial supersonic air travel, electric-powered flight, and improvements to air mobility.

NASA funding helps small businesses research new ideas and develop innovative aeronautics, human exploration, science, and space technology solutions. Our partnerships fuel growth in industries that will define the future, such as artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing.

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits on the ramp at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California during sunrise, shortly after completion of painting. With its unique design, including a 38-foot-long nose, the X-59 was built to demonstrate the ability to fly supersonic, or faster than the speed of sound, while reducing the typically loud sonic boom produced by aircraft at such speeds to a quieter sonic “thump”. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which seeks to solve one of the major barriers to supersonic flight over land, currently banned in the United States, by making sonic booms quieter.

NASA/Steve Freeman

NASA Builds Bridges

More nations are active in space than ever before, and international partnerships are key to humanity’s continued achievements in space.

For more than 25 years, humans have continuously lived and worked 250 miles above Earth aboard the space station. It is the largest peacetime, multinational effort in history, representing 15 nations, five space agencies, and 279 people from 22 countries have visited the station.

As NASA returns to the Moon with our partners, the Artemis Accords serve as a set of guiding principles for international cooperation in the next phase of human space exploration.

Artemis Accords

The Axiom Mission-2 and Expedition 69 crew members pose for a portrait together during dinner time aboard the International Space Station. In the center front row, is Expedition 69 crew member and UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi flanked by (from left) Axiom Mission-2 crew members Commander Peggy Whitson, Mission Specialist Ali Alqarni, Pilot John Shoffner, and Mission Specialist Rayyanah Barnawi. In the back (from left) are, Expedition 69 crew members Roscosmos cosmonaut Dmitri Petelin, NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen, Roscosmos cosmonauts Andrey Fedyaev and Sergey Prokopyev, and NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg. Not pictured is NASA astronaut Frank Rubio.

The Axiom Mission-2 and Expedition 69 crew members pose for a portrait together during dinner time aboard the International Space Station. In the center front row, is Expedition 69 crew member and UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi flanked by (from left) Axiom Mission-2 crew members Commander Peggy Whitson, Mission Specialist Ali Alqarni, Pilot John Shoffner, and Mission Specialist Rayyanah Barnawi. In the back (from left) are, Expedition 69 crew members Roscosmos cosmonaut Dmitri Petelin, NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen, Roscosmos cosmonauts Andrey Fedyaev and Sergey Prokopyev, and NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg. Not pictured is NASA astronaut Frank Rubio.

NASA

Aerial shot of fields.

NASA Inspires

NASA missions capture people's attention around the world and inspire future generations to explore, learn, and build a better future.

NASA engages with students and educators to make STEM approachable and excite interest in technical careers. NASA internships offer meaningful, hands-on projects to enhance the skill, diversity, and size of the future STEM workforce.

Interns at NASA Glenn Research Center

Interns at NASA Glenn Research Center

NASA

Explore More

Learn More and Get Involved

Earth from space.

Benefits to You

Latest news about NASA’s efforts and the public good

African American researcher works in laboratory with electronic devices.

NASA Spinoff

Everyday technologies, products, and processes developed with NASA’s help

A photograph from space of the International Space Station orbiting Earth. The station is a graceful horizontal cylinder with four rectangular solar panels oriented vertically, two on either side of center. In the center are horizontal square panels angled slightly to the right, and science instruments and modules extend out from the center cylinder.

International Space Station Benefits for Humanity

How the space station benefits the economy, human health, disaster response, and more

On March 29, 2023, the Landsat 8 satellite acquired this enhanced color image of agricultural fields near Corcoran covered with water. The water (dark blue) stands out from the surrounding green vegetation and brown bare ground.

Space for U.S.

Regional examples of how NASA Earth observations impact life across the U.S.

Artist rendition of two floating pieces of Earth. One has a house and fence on it and the other has a small city with various buildings on it including the home.

NASA Home & City

Interactive website that lets users explore NASA’s impact in their homes, cities, and everyday life

NASA's Matt Romeyn works in the Crop Food Production Research Area of the Space Station Processing Facility at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA at Your Table

The space agency’s surprising role in agriculture

FY 2023 Economic Impact Report

All 50 states see economic benefits from NASA’s missions of aerospace research and space exploration.

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