[oh8eleven]

I loved the space program when I was a kid.
Me too, big time - I used to cut school just to watch the launches on TV. Black & white no less!
I was enthralled with the shuttle too - for about 10 years. Then it dawned on me - what are getting out of this?
I suppose a loose comparison would be all the billions (trillions?) spent on trying to find cures for cancer, MS, ALS, etc., over the last 50 years ... and how it only took Jonas Salk a few years and not that much money to come up with a polio vaccine.

[Vermont Lt]

Yes, i think its as much a marketing problem as it is an “effectiveness” problem.

If we could have seen where it was “going” there would be much more support.

But, the desire to “explore” is not enough for some people. Its one of the reasons why Sandals and Cruises are full, but the national parks are sometimes empty.