[oh8eleven]

I think it's money well spent.
C'mon, if all the people involved in this project and all the space projects are so excited about space - let them pay for it themselves.
The Space Shuttle is another good example. For 30 years the shuttles went up and the shuttles came down.
And what do we the taxpayer have to show for it - other than the $190 billion cost? Nada.

[Hot Tabasco]

The Space Shuttle is another good example. For 30 years the shuttles went up and the shuttles came down.

Yes they did and where was the necessary public funding to attempt this in the private sector???

So you have a problem with the Apollo moon landing missions, the Skylab space station and later the Space Shuttle? And lets add to that the International Space Station, the Earth Observing System, heliophysics, robotic spacecraft, the current Mars explorer, the Hubbell telescope….and the list goes on and on and on……

So how many of those projects were privately funded?

When the time comes when there is a profit to be made, such projects will be taken over by the private sector……….

Nice try.....

[reed13k]

Actually quite a bit of actual science that have gone into licensed technologies to other industries such as an implantable heart pump based on a shuttle fuel pump design and here’s a paper with over 120 others to peruse:

https://spinoff.nasa.gov/pdf/AIAA-2010-8885-305.pdf