one giant step backwards

[Combwork]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Honestly, I don't buy the spinoff argument. Plus, I find it ironic for one to criticize government waste, incompetence, etc., but then argue in favor of outrageously expensive government programs based upon the possibility of "pennies on a dollar " returns on spinoff technologies.

P.S. I don't like Tang and I think our republic would do just fine without it.

How big would it have been? How much of this project plus spin-offs would have been home grown? Are we talking about something similar in scale to the Hoover dam? From what I've read it was high budget national projects that pulled America out of recession/depression in the 1930's.

I'm genuinely 50/50 on this one. On the one hand "To Boldly Go" just to see what's there financially doesn't make sense, but "To Boldly Go" was how the Americas were discovered in the first place. How can we evaluate whatever might be 'out there' unless we take a look?

Jim.

[piece-itpete]

Agreed, and the will to explore seems to be the mark of a vibrant society.

Pete

[merrylander]

And the willingness to ignore our infrastructure in order to repeat an exploration already done is a mark of what?

[piece-itpete]

It's hard to ignore the vast wealth that has often followed daring exploration.

Pete

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

It's hard to ignore the vast wealth that has often followed daring exploration.

Pete

And we probably know far more already about the moon than we do about the hidden depths of our own oceans.