ISS is a hugely expensive waste of cash. No scientific value.
“ISS is a hugely expensive waste of cash. No scientific value.”
You could not be more wrong a thousand times over. Orbital space stations such as the ISS will soon be indispensable stepping stones to the commercial use of space producing more additional gross domestic products than the entire United States produces today. Todays investors in the successful companies participating in the commercial space business can potentially become the next billionaires by the time of the retirements. This is not hyperbole, because the potential commercial income from civilian business activities in space are enough to make Apple Inc. look like very very small potatoes.
There is also the matter of “The High Ground”, which the United States cannot afford to cede to nations which are declaring themselves to be the enemies of the United States and seek to conquer mankind on the Earth.