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Majority of Americans Believe It Is Essential That the US Remain a Global Leader in Space (pewinternet.org)
Pew Research: Sixty years after the founding of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), most Americans believe the United States should be at the forefront of global leadership in space exploration. Majorities say the International Space Station has been a good investment for the country and that, on balance, NASA is still vital to the future of U.S. space exploration even as private space companies emerge as increasingly important players. Roughly seven-in-ten Americans (72%) say it is essential for the U.S. to continue to be a world leader in space exploration, and eight-in-ten (80%) say the space station has been a good investment for the country, according to a new Pew Research Center survey conducted March 27-April 9, 2018. These survey results come at a time when NASA finds itself in a much different world from the one that existed when the Apollo astronauts first set foot on the moon nearly half a century ago. The Cold War space race has receded into history, but other countries (including China, Japan and India) have emerged as significant international players in space exploration. Another finding in the report: Most Americans would like NASA to focus on Earth, instead of Mars.
Why not do both? The money drain is the military, not space exploration.
When was USA ever the global leader in space?
The Russians did most everything first: first artificial satellite, first man in space, first woman in space, first in-flight rocket restart, first landing on another planet, first object in solar orbit, first animals and plants in space, first planetary flyby, first communication between crafts in space, first multi-person crewed craft, first soft landing on the moon, first in-space docking, first crew exchange in space, first sample return mission from the moon, first remote rover on another planet, first in-space observatory, first soft landing on mars, first signal from surface of Mars received on earth, first flyby of Venus, first soft landing on Venus, longest time spent in space... on and on it goes.
Also they are one of only two countries who can send people to space today, the other is China. US lost this ability.
Maybe US should work on becoming a leader, first, before trying to "remain" a leader.
NOAA partners with NASA, but is largely terrestrial based. Moreover, it does not have international ties like NASA does to procure funding from foreign nations to assist in the science associated with the costly missions that are run.
Additionally, both JAXA and ESA and India's space organization push climate missions as well, so clearly it is a big bigger than just what NOAA does, or else these other space organizations would be foisting it on their national _weather_ service as well.