NASA's Economic Impact: Fact Vs Myth

Measuring The NASA Stimulus, National Journal
“… But placing a monetary value on those benefits proved more difficult, even for one of NASA’s greatest achievements. The “fact remains that we got to the moon in a decade, but are, as yet, unable to fully measure the present and future economic impact of the science and technology accumulated on the way to the moon (or the aggregate effect of technological progress in general),” noted the authors of a 1971 Midwest Research Institute study. No one’s ever really resolved the uncertainty. And as a result, researchers over the years have come up with a wide array of returns on investment for NASA spending. Estimated ratios of revenue generated compared to spending have been as high as 14-to-1.”