They never spent one thin dime on the Moon! It was all spent on Earth.
What is REALLY stupid, estimates vary, but it looks like NASA was, for a time, getting about 2.5% of the US GNP for a couple years. Spending actually peaked about 1965.
One of the big problems they had (among many) back then was with the thrusters. They are impossible to test effectively on earth, because they perform differently in the vacuum of space. Vacuum chambers exist, but the vacuum is gone as soon as you fire it, that kind of thing. The problems they had were with overheating of the teflon seals, which would swell, and cause an obstruction.
Fast forward 60 years. The Boeing craft has problems with the Thrusters. You’ll never guess what. Overheating. Swelling of the teflon seals, causing an obstruction.
Maybe they’ll have to scour the nursing homes down in Florida and find some of the guys who solved that problem 60 years ago. Sad. They threw away the “clearly leading role” in space as per the president’s directive, and now they can hardly get into orbit.
I figure there should be routine tourist flights in lunar orbit by now.
The (German) men at NASA who solved those problems 60 years ago took their notes and lots of other stuff with them when the Apollo program was shut down.
That's why NASA now admits that they don't know how to get back.
The institutional knowledge walked out the door.
I figure there should be routine tourist flights in lunar orbit by now.
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There are, you just missed them, and more are planned.
Space is expensive, and one of the biggest problems is Congress continually asking NASA to do more while cutting its budget. Maybe I3 Atlas will change some minds, as it passes through the Asteroid Belt and approaches Mars.
The same could be said of welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, corporate bailouts, COVID stimulus, student loans and all other government entitlement programs.
All the money is spent in the U.S., so it's great for the economy!
NO!
Government spending to "boost the economy" is a stupid, socialist argument whether it's for welfare or NASA, food stamps or the military, student loans or foreign aid that's "spent on American weapons".