Mmm. Big sinkhole for tax dollars, if what government’s done already isn’t enough. If you’re trying to make an economic argument for it (versus a defense argument), it’s no different than any other make work program. Neat to see rockets taking off and stuff (my kids like it), but a lot more space research could be done if you didn’t have to haul those pesky humans up and back. VERY expensive to engineer for and they tend to die when things go wrong.
Just my opinion, but all of the astronauts that died in the shuttle program and before did more to hold back the exploration of space than if we’d used robotic probes. If you lose astronauts it’s a national tragedy and you have to reengineer everything. If you lose a robotic probe, it’s just another robot and a cheap one at that.
You get a bigger bang for you space exploration bucks if you don’t use people. Just sayin’.
“If you lose astronauts it’s a national tragedy and you have to reengineer everything. If you lose a robotic probe, it’s just another robot and a cheap one at that.”
And if you have a robot that does amazing things most people will likewise not care. People connect with people. Besides people can do a lot of different things. Robots do one thing.
How many jobs did Steve Jobs create by converting the Apollo capsule computer into the Apple of his eye?
How many Dish and Direct TV systems are in operation? How many cell phones are in use?
How many GPS systems are guiding us over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house?
How many lives are saved with the new medical technology that was developed to track astronaut's health.
this stuff all came about from the funds spent in what you say is a sink hole!
Phooey!