My point, of course, is that humans explore..it is part of our genetic code. And the thrill of exploring the unknown is not satisfied by seeing pictures sent back from probes. Why else would we have journeyed to the South Pole..or climbed Mt. Everest...or have gone to the moon.
Of course, the payback in tech transfer from our space activities has more than paid for itself. In the 1970s..after the height of Apollo...the average return to the GDP by efficiencies gained from tech transfer was 23 dollars for each dollar invested in NASA. By the 1990s, that figure had dropped to 7 to 1, but still impressive. Of all of our federal investments, the NASA investment has been one of our best. Just ask any stroke victim learning how to regain their balance using machines first developed for astronauts returning from space...or a person whose life was saved by early detection from an MRI. I could go on, but I know there are people on this board who would refuse to support our human space endeavors no matter what evidence of their necessity is given...I guess they would just rather turn that part of the human journey over to the Chinese.