“Defund the government and stop putting money toward non-Constitutional things.”
NASA is as strategic an entity to America as the US Marines.
The nations that lead on the frontiers, dictate the course of human history. That is worth doing collectively as a nation.
Nobody is saying don’t do private enteprise.
But yes, private enterprise is not drawing aim at beyond low earth orbit. Only NASA can do that kind of thing right now.
For military things, I would agree NASA has some benefit, but none of these programs about “exploring the universe” has anything to do with that.
What does the International Space Station have to do with our defense? Everything done there is shared with Russia and other countries.
You say, “The nations that lead on the frontiers, dictate the course of human history. That is worth doing collectively as a nation.” I say, “Fine, then go underwater and create vast cities there.” I mean, how can anyone justify colonizing outer space somewhere when we don’t even have a city under our own ocean?
Get your head out of the clouds and stop justifying gross spending by government “just because.”
NASA is most impressive, but it is still a bureaucracy. The Constellation Program is a perfect example of this, fabulously expensive, lasting practically forever, and getting nowhere anytime soon.
Whereas I believe private industry is a better way to go, as in having NASA contract with private carriers to get people and cargo to LEO, and then beyond, the current plan is to 1.) Slightly increase NASA budget, 2.) Give NASA oversight on any private spacecraft, launches, payloads, designs, etc. What this means is that NASA bureaucrats, who want space as their monopolistic turf, will simply nay-say and inhibit private space as “unsafe” and “too expensive” while running them out of money. Then they will come back with their hand out again, having ensured that private industry had “failed.”
America is better than that. America can easily rise above bureaucratically-imposed shackles, as long as those shackles are removed. NASA is a self-limiting body. (See Jerry Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy) It will stand in the way of private industry, just as the Energy Department and EPA stand in the way of Nuclear power.