[SlargTarg]

When the Apollo mission was conceived, no one had ever been to the moon. Everything which had to be done was INVENTED, including orbital mechanics of getting beyond LEO. Out of all those inventions, which were given away, came a long list of things we take for granted today, and even “cannot live without” - cell phones for example.

What you are arguing here is that we should just throw money at this project because something unforeseen "might" be invented.

That is not how a prudent capitalist uses money. That any inventions came from government spending is irrelevant. Who is to say that they wouldn't have been invented by private industry.

What this shows more than any other thing is that Newt is not serious about reducing government spending in any way.

There is no way he can cut back on entitlement funding for "the poor" and battle the entrenched interests that protect it while at the same time throwing money away on space circuses.

[mission9]

You have not studied Newt’s space proposal. His intention is to spend LESS, but stragetically apply the money with private enterprise goals and benchmark achievements. Unaccountable, big space budgets without a clear goal have wasted billions at NASA.

[PIF]

Sorry you missed the point. It was about making money. Who makes it and where the product originates.

The US missed the opportunity to have the public associate modern inventions with manned space exploration. China, however, is not as naive and idealistic and will not miss the opportunity.

I'm not arguing anything. I'm simply saying what happened and that without a manned space program, future invention will be Chinese. not US in origin.

FWIW, none of the problems associated with the Apollo program were “foreseen”. The problem popped up when it did and was fixed on the spot.

The ‘who is to say’ argument is specious. A prudent capitalist would never dream, or dream of going into space, the stars etc. Only leaders, dreamers, and those with a long vision of the future go where prudent capitalists fear to spend.

People in the US generally have a vision span that stretches to the next weekend. The Chinese have a vision span that stretches for centuries ...

You plan on next weekend's party, the Chinese plan on working all weekend.

We used to be a nation of dreamers, inventors and explorers. Now we are prudent capitalists bemoaning the working conditions in China, hoping to assuage our collective guilt.

All the while crying in out beer we cannot afford anything, but please give me a raise/welfare check/Social Security check/unemployment check.

Our hands are out begging, while the Chinese are working even under horrible conditions. They have a plan, they have a vision. We have tears of regret and excuses galore.