[John Leland 1789]

This we understand well. The engineering bi-products of our aeronautical ventures in the USA, including those from our space research and development, make their way down the chain into civilian use probably as fast as they can.

In Russia, R&D is kept in the state vaults, probably even now.

When we lived near Vladivostok in 1996 and 1997, very few single-family dwellings in the nearby town of Ussuriysk (1996 pop. 225,000)had indoor toilets. Being first in space didn’t help the common Russian much.

[riverdawg]

“Being first in space didn’t help the common Russian much.”

True, and the hundreds of billions of dollars NASA spent over the years hasn’t helped the common American very much. There was a thread on FR about a year ago in which virtually every claim about NASA’s great contributions to everyday life in the U.S. (even Tang!) was debunked.