Main article: NASA facilities

NASA's facilities are research, construction and communication centers to help its missions. Some facilities serve more than one application for historic or administrative reasons. NASA also operates a short-line railroad at the Kennedy Space Center and own special aircraft for instance two Boeing 747 which were used for transport of the Space Shuttle orbiter.

John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), is one of the best-known NASA facilities. It has been the launch site for every United States human space flight since 1968. Although such flights are currently on pause, KSC continues to manage and operate unmanned rocket launch facilities for America's civilian space program from three pads at the adjoining Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston is home to the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center, where all flight control is managed for manned space missions. JSC is the lead NASA center for activities regarding the International Space Station and also houses the NASA Astronaut Corps that selects, trains, and provides astronauts as crew members for U.S. and international space missions.

Another major facility is Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama at which the Saturn 5 rocket and Skylab were developed.[138] The JPL, mentioned above, was together with ABMA one of the agencies behind Explorer 1, the first American space mission.

Budget

NASA's budget from 1958 to 2012 as a percentage of federal budget
Main article: Budget of NASA
NASA's budget has generally been approximately 1% of the federal budget from the early 1970s on, but briefly peaked to approximately 4.41% in 1966 during the Apollo program.[139] Recent public perception of the NASA budget has been shown to be significantly different from reality; a 1997 poll indicated that Americans responded on average that 20% of the federal budget went to NASA.[140]

The percentage of federal budget that NASA has been allocated has been steadily dropping since the Apollo program and as of 2012 the NASA budget is estimated to be 0.48% of the federal budget.[141] In a March 2012 meeting of the United States Senate Science Committee, Neil deGrasse Tyson testified that "Right now, NASA’s annual budget is half a penny on your tax dollar. For twice that—a penny on a dollar—we can transform the country from a sullen, dispirited nation, weary of economic struggle, to one where it has reclaimed its 20th century birthright to dream of tomorrow."[142][143]

Environmental Impact
Space exploration can affect life on Earth by using toxic chemicals to manufacture rockets, and carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere during operation of rockets.[144] NASA addressed environmental concerns of its now defunct constellation program in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act.[145]

Current missions
See also: List of NASA missions

Various nebulae observed from a NASA space telescope
Examples of some current NASA missions:

2001 Mars Odyssey, Mars orbiter
Cassini, Saturn orbiter
Chandra X-ray Telescope
Curiosity rover (Mars Science Laboratory), Mars rover
Dawn, asteroid orbiter
Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
Hubble Space Telescope
International Space Station
Kepler mission
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Lunar orbiter
MESSENGER, Mercury orbiter
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars orbiter
MAVEN
New Horizons, Pluto flyby
Opportunity rover, Mars rover
Solar Dynamics Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
STEREO
Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission