Bobby Brown analyzes the impact of NASA as a major “contributor” to the United

States’ “trade balance” in the article “Space Technology: A Critical Investment for Our Nation’s
Future”. His intention is to convince the population that NASA worths being invested in, appealing
to the national spirit, logic, using persuasive diction, and making allusion to historical facts. The
focus of the passage shifts from NASA being a forefront organization to how it involves and
empowers the most brilliant minds.
To begin with, Bobby introduces the reader to the topic by describing US as an
international leader in aerospace technology. This way, he captivates his audience that starts to
feel emotionally involved in the issue. He, then, suggests that funding and development in this
eld need to be continued in order to ensure that US remains in this leadership position. In
addition to this, he presents the readers helpful data, which emphasize what a bene cial e ect
investment in NASA have had:”design and ight of Apollo missions, the space shuttle, the
International Space Station and a myriad of robotic explorers that allowed us to reach
destinations across our solar system”. He also mentions that maintaining investments in this elds
will create numerous opportunities for future generations. By mentioning the succesors of today’s
world, he calls for people’s national spirit and, therefore, convinces that this action will bene t not
only the current inhabitants, but far more next generations.
Moreover, Bobby Brown carefully crafts another convincing argument by implying that
choosing to stop funding NASA would result in the endangering of the national safety. He cites
military and police forces as an example of people bene ting from the “nation’s investments in
aerospace technology”. In other words, he provides the readers with this example, calling for their
logical reasoning, in order to underline the immediate importance of such funding. The population
clearly cares for their own safety, so this argument alone could persuade anybody to accept and
sustain the author’s point of view. Apart from attacking national safety, Bobby mentions how
technology investments change the “world around us”. In doing so, he suggests that further
development is almost impossible without spending necessary resources that lead to these
improvements. For instance, he mentions “super computers, solar- and wind-generated energy”
and other recents discoveries, which undoubtedly facilitates a more e cient society.
Furthermore, he attempts to put forward a comprehensive and well crafted argument by
utilizing speci c diction and rhetoric. He highlights his main points when he opts for the repetition
of terms like “leader” or leadership”. To empower his reasoning, he sensibly chooses to use
expressions that catch the reader’s attention and makes him or her contemplate a little at the idea
presented. The last paragraph, which is also characterised as a rhetoric approach, is a perfect
example of his convincing method. In addition to this, the historical allusion in the eighth
paragraph gives weight to Bobby’s message through its wisely chosen words. NASA is regarded
as a “grand challenge-one chosen not for its simplicity, but for its audacity. In other words, this
idea conveys that NASA has made a name for itself as the place where best minds accomplish
extraordinary goals.
Taking into consideration Bobby’s carefully built arguments, any reader should certain how
important it is to continue to invest in technological development of NASA. The author
successfully manages to convince his audience of this, by appealing to the its emotions and
o ering proper reasoning.
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