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I have a friend who tells me America should not continue with the space program but should instead be content to solving the problems of human hunger and misery here on Earth.
I couldn't disagree more with your friend. I'm all for space exploration and science.
I couldn't disagree more with your friend. I'm all for space exploration and science.
Possibly I should have been more clear as to where I stand. I totally agree with you. I grew up in a time (50s & 60s) when space travel was a dream of everyone with an imagination. It gives hope to the hopeless and it will be a sad day when Americans become so suppressed by modern mediocrity that they no longer dream.
Possibly I should have been more clear as to where I stand. I totally agree with you. I grew up in a time (50s & 60s) when space travel was a dream of everyone with an imagination. It gives hope to the hopeless and it will be a sad day when Americans become so suppressed by modern mediocrity that they no longer dream.
While I do dream of still being alive by the time we have more advanced space travel, I'm going to have to agree with your friend. I think we need to solve the current problems affecting us here on Earth before trying to head out into Space. It's embarrassing that we can't even cure the common cold yet we want to travel faster than the speed of light?
While I do dream of still being alive by the time we have more advanced space travel, I'm going to have to agree with your friend. I think we need to solve the current problems affecting us here on Earth before trying to head out into Space. It's embarrassing that we can't even cure the common cold yet we want to travel faster than the speed of light?
Had the Wright brothers been more concerned about somehow dealing with the birth of John Dillinger in 1903 instead of their famous flight, we wouldn't have air travel today. The world deals with its problems as they occur and the traces of history reveal that problems will always be a part of man's existence. Technology moves forward and not backward and, if the U.S. chooses not to participate, others will.
Had the Wright brothers been more concerned about somehow dealing with the birth of John Dillinger in 1903 instead of their famous flight, we wouldn't have air travel today. The world deals with its problems as they occur and the traces of history reveal that problems will always be a part of man's existence. Technology moves forward and not backward and, if the U.S. chooses not to participate, others will.
Fine, let the private sector deal with space flight. Just like we did with the Wright brothers. Abolish the unconstitutional organization we call NASA and give the US taxpayers their money back.
Fine, let the private sector deal with space flight. Just like we did with the Wright brothers. Abolish the unconstitutional organization we call NASA and give the US taxpayers their money back.
I assume if there had not been a traditional connection between the military/politics and space travel, NASA would never have gotten so huge.
Plus, space travel is very expensive. There might also be insurance issues in the case of fatal accidents. NASA has a budget no private company can afford, and people dying while working for it are more like national heroes than insurance cases.
I assume if there had not been a traditional connection between the military/politics and space travel, NASA would never have gotten so huge.
You're probably right about the military ramifications of space travel causing NASA it to grow so quickly. However, it seems that only in recent years has NASA become so politicized that it became obvious. That's a death knell for any science to become infected with politics but one of the primary reasons I no longer work in the biological sciences.
I assume if there had not been a traditional connection between the military/politics and space travel, NASA would never have gotten so huge.
Plus, space travel is very expensive. There might also be insurance issues in the case of fatal accidents. NASA has a budget no private company can afford, and people dying while working for it are more like national heroes than insurance cases.
Despite that there are companies building planes to take tourists into space (probably be available this decade or the next) and they plan to build space cruise ships by the year 2045. That won't be taking us outside of the solar system but it shows that companies can do something about space travel in our own system.
Anyway, I worded my sentence wrong, I meant that I think we should invest more money in our planets current issues not that we should completely abandon NASA. The reason is because if we can't even cure one virus in our planet what will we do if we were to encounter exotic and disease causing microbes on colonized planets and moons?
Despite that there are companies building planes to take tourists into space (probably be available this decade or the next) and they plan to build space cruise ships by the year 2045. That won't be taking us outside of the solar system but it shows that companies can do something about space travel in our own system.
Anyway, I worded my sentence wrong, I meant that I think we should invest more money in our planets current issues not that we should completely abandon NASA. The reason is because if we can't even cure one virus in our planet what will we do if we were to encounter exotic and disease causing microbes on colonized planets and moons?
I agree of course, but I guess some people have kind of given up on Earth and hope to build a utopia on another planet some day. But as long as we humans stay the way we are, it will become just as messy a planet as our own.
In this context one question is who would we send to populate an empty planet? The rich who can pay for it? The elite? ETc.
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