Posted on 01/21/2004 2:53:36 PM PST by ambrose
Apollo led to "nothing" because NASA/Congress/President dropped the ball when the sheeple grew bored with exploration. Even back in the 60's, the plan was lunar base, then on to Mars and beyond.
Photo-op is planting a flag and leaving. Changing the course of humanity is colonizing Mars, harvesting its resources, and then on to Titan and beyond.
Hyperbole? That list doesn't even scratch the surface.
Ever know anyone who had a heart attack, needed a transfusion, cardiac monitoring, angioplasty, MRI, CAT scan, microsurgery, vascular surgery, mammography, biopsy, etc? The space program helped to revolutionize medicine.
Every part of daily life and the quality of medical care has products from the space program.
Would they have been developed without it? Some - maybe, others - probably not. Nothing is invented until there is a need - and space forced inventors to conceive the previously inconceivable. Nothing invented can ever hit the marketplace without venture capital.
Significant events in pioneering never had private funding. This country would not have been discovered, founded, fulfilled a sea to sea manifest destiny without state funding.
It takes a large vision to trail blaze in history and it needs the support of a society willing to thrive and grow to support it.
For this government, it is one of the few times it spends money on an investment and one the rare uses of taxes for the "general welfare."
Right. What momentous event of human history was ever financed by voluntary donations?
"Excuse me, would you donate to the Future of Humanity Fund? We'd like to colonize other planets so the race doesn't curl up and die here."
The time has come to say no to every new government program that comes along,
War on Terror? New border security to stem illegals?
Sorry - read the sign - NO new programs of any kind.
What? New planes and guns for the military?
But we have perfectly good WWII surplus still....
This is just a more "upscale" welfare program designed to transfer the wealth of the workers to those in government graces.
What a load - even for a propaganda phrase. Want a tastier pop-tart? Use private funding. Want to cure a disease, save live with new operative technique and equipment, want to explore an uncharted area? This is one area where government funds actually are spent improving the standard of life for all. But then, your reasoning has the people at Mayo, JPL, etc. in the same line with the crack hookers.
Do you consider yourself a conservative?
The voice of progress....*sigh* How dare you propose using tax dollars to help the human race to the future, you evil b***ard.
/sarcasm
Funny how you want their money, not their opinion.
If their opinion wasn't heaping scorn on invention, exploration, progress, while rehashing disingenuous Luddite philosophies, there might be less ridicule.
Remember - it is our taxes too. Much better to invest it than waste it.
Guess what - most of those products never would have been developed, let alone made it out of a lab if it hadn't been for the initial requirements of space and the space program. Profit development occurred afterward when someone thought, hey a little advertising and I could sell that.
Items, especially in science, are not invented for profit first. They are invented for a need first. Profit comes from re-tasking the original invention.
The needs of going to the moon accelerated the process incredibly. That is the reality of spin-off technology, not the PR game.
You're almost thinking logically. The next step would be Jupiter - then Alpha Centauri or nearest star with rocky inner planets, like Earth and Mars. Progress takes time - and money. But the future should be worth it.
By the way, Bush's proposal was less than 0.7% of the total budget.
The funny thing is, the spinoffs are everyday household items, the clowns that protest these advancements and shrug that someone else would have done it, haven't a clue! They just take advantage of these technologies b^%tch and moan about them! Irony?
Bravo, keep fighting the good fight.
Yes, please keep the facts straight and straight facts show that you are grossly incorrect. As Rimmer from "Red Dwarf" would say," Wrong, wrong, simply brimming with wrongability."
No settlers could afford to "follow on their own dime." The expenses to mount an expedition for a new settlement were astronomical. Therefor the colonies were granted charters by the Crown to Crown companies who used capital, from the Crown and tax breaks for their own levies, to supply the first expeditions. The colonists were employees or bonded to the companies. Some colonies, like Maryland, were deeded directly to relatives of the immediate royal family and again, used monies of the Crown to finance colonization. Other colonies like South Carolina were owned directly by the King and settled by his loyal supporters and paid for by the Crown once again. Finally, Georgia was settled as a penal and debtors colony - every penny paid for by the government.
Even the early attempts by the Dutch and the Spanish were paid by the Crown, in the case of Spain, or paid for by a government agency in the case of the Dutch West Indies Company.
Settlers paying their own way didn't occur until after the colonies were established and growing on their own. Even then, it wasn't as common as generally assumed. That would be in the late 1600's and early 1700's - long after your "35 years and thousands."
Throughout human history, exploration, colonization, and necessary technological advances have been financed by a government or governing body. It is a task that requires the focus of a society - not individuals - and not a charity foundation.
SSSHHHHH!!!! The Omega conspiracy is a secret!
The approach used in the 1960's was 'gung-ho' and it DID work after 10 years and lotsabucks and several lives. All for 'pissing rights' that we got there first - which is not a politically-incorrect thing to say.
Immediate colonization? Good - let 'em waste YOUR money and not MINE. "sticking point"? You have a talent for understatement. Nothing has ever come back from Mars yet (hell, they've enough problems sending relatively simple mechanical constructs there one-way already, let alone the mechanical resources that would be necessary for a return trip, not to mention the provisioning/environment necessary to support the meatbags making the trip). How about "problem[s] solved BEFORE we turn this into a colonization mission"? AND, with at least a year-plus encompassing a launch-to-splashdown trial, you could do a hell of a lot of Moon-testing (a week round-trip would be a lot) still using hard vacuum and getting into/out of the Moon's gravity well and transit time as your test conditions.
hey- tires are used on the shuttles, therefore tires must have been developed for space exploration. There are seat coverings on the shuttle, therefore naugahyde was born. 10-32 x 1/4" buttonhead cres screws...light bulbs for indicators...ALUMINUM!...rubber for gaskets...the list is never ending (oh, yeah, and Tang®). :)
Non-oxidizing electrical contacts.
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