Just curious but...
How do you feel about microprocessors?
Or... Hmm... You know, the satellites that let geologists research with precision the movement of the shifts of Earth plates? (I bet your geology teacher is pretty fond of that.)
NASA does far more than just pick up space rocks and look at super novas. They've raised the bar technologically in so many ways it's almost impossible to calculate just exactly how much they have affected history. Although you can do an economic measurement: over the course of NASA's history, every one dollar the U.S. government funded NASA has ended up in seven to eight dollars produced in goods. That's an 700% return from technological research going directly into the economy.

