Is the knowledge gained from space exploration worth all the money that is spent on it?
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1. NASA's annual budget is 0.8% of the total annual Federal budget. NASA spends less in a year than the military spends in a day.
2. When the Apollo program was canceled, its funds were transferred to social programs. In 1962 Kennedy challenged NASA to send a man to the Moon and return him safely to the Earth by the end of the decade; NASA accomplished that goal on time and on budget. Today, more than thirty years after the Apollo program’s funds were channeled into social programs, there is still war, disease and hunger. In other words, as Neil Armstrong said, a program that worked was punished, it’s funds allocated to programs that don’t work.
3. There will always be war, disease, hunger, and other problems on Earth. They will never go away. At least space research helps to solve those problems, as opposed to billions of dollars of government waste, porkbarrel spending, and an out-of-control military budget, which help no one and harm many.
4. Space flight provides a unique and transcendent perspective. I have had the privilege of meeting half of the Apollo astronauts, and the experience of speaking to them imparted to me some small sense of their extraordinary adventure and the cosmic sense of perspective that Earth is only one small and fragile planet. Their voyages to the Moon changed their lives forever in a positive way, and we can all benefit from such an experience in a way that far surpasses the value of money.
5. Medical research and food production are among the scientific priorities of the space program.
6. We are running out of fossil fuels on this planet – and even if we weren’t, we know now (thanks to manned and unmanned space flight) the damage that fossil fuels are doing to this planet. We must look outward into space for new resources, whether it be Helium-3 on the moon, or a solar power station at one of the Lagrange points, or some unforeseen by-product of space research which will provide totally unexpected energy needs.
7. We are fortunate to live during one of Earth’s brief calm periods. Catastrophic disasters do happen and have happened. Whether it be global climate change, asteroid or comet impact, or even nuclear war, we cannot count on the ongoing stability of our planet. As of now, we have nowhere else to go. Mars has as much land area as Earth, it represents a whole new world.
8. At the height of the Apollo era, the vast majority of research and development were done by NASA and the Department of Defense. Today, with NASA’s stripped-down budget, the Department of Defense does most of the R&D, and they keep what they develop; the rest of us don’t benefit. We benefited greatly from NASA’s work; from the comfort of your bed to health benefits to infrastructure to the Internet.
9. It is at the heart of human nature to explore. Space is the last frontier. Unless we continue our exploration of the universe, we will shrivel up and die inside.
2. When the Apollo program was canceled, its funds were transferred to social programs. In 1962 Kennedy challenged NASA to send a man to the Moon and return him safely to the Earth by the end of the decade; NASA accomplished that goal on time and on budget. Today, more than thirty years after the Apollo program’s funds were channeled into social programs, there is still war, disease and hunger. In other words, as Neil Armstrong said, a program that worked was punished, it’s funds allocated to programs that don’t work.
3. There will always be war, disease, hunger, and other problems on Earth. They will never go away. At least space research helps to solve those problems, as opposed to billions of dollars of government waste, porkbarrel spending, and an out-of-control military budget, which help no one and harm many.
4. Space flight provides a unique and transcendent perspective. I have had the privilege of meeting half of the Apollo astronauts, and the experience of speaking to them imparted to me some small sense of their extraordinary adventure and the cosmic sense of perspective that Earth is only one small and fragile planet. Their voyages to the Moon changed their lives forever in a positive way, and we can all benefit from such an experience in a way that far surpasses the value of money.
5. Medical research and food production are among the scientific priorities of the space program.
6. We are running out of fossil fuels on this planet – and even if we weren’t, we know now (thanks to manned and unmanned space flight) the damage that fossil fuels are doing to this planet. We must look outward into space for new resources, whether it be Helium-3 on the moon, or a solar power station at one of the Lagrange points, or some unforeseen by-product of space research which will provide totally unexpected energy needs.
7. We are fortunate to live during one of Earth’s brief calm periods. Catastrophic disasters do happen and have happened. Whether it be global climate change, asteroid or comet impact, or even nuclear war, we cannot count on the ongoing stability of our planet. As of now, we have nowhere else to go. Mars has as much land area as Earth, it represents a whole new world.
8. At the height of the Apollo era, the vast majority of research and development were done by NASA and the Department of Defense. Today, with NASA’s stripped-down budget, the Department of Defense does most of the R&D, and they keep what they develop; the rest of us don’t benefit. We benefited greatly from NASA’s work; from the comfort of your bed to health benefits to infrastructure to the Internet.
9. It is at the heart of human nature to explore. Space is the last frontier. Unless we continue our exploration of the universe, we will shrivel up and die inside.
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