What are your thoughts on government spending on space exploration?

Question

for it or against it....and why.

Answer 1

Seldom has any public expenditure of funds resulted in so much return on its investment.

Answer 2

i see it as far less of a waste of money then war.... instead of destroying parts of humanity, you're working to better it. instead of showing our truly animalistic tendancies, we're demonstrating how great human-kind COULD be if we united....

Answer 3

As long as they don't wake me up, I don't care.

Answer 4

as a species the only danger to us(other than our selfs) is a planet wide disaster. if we occupied more than one planet the odds of our entire species being wiped out is dramatically reduced. so we need more money in space exploration, sky's the limit(pun intended).

Answer 5

i think this is great, it will put space back on the front page

Answer 6

I am not a US tax payer, and it is the USA that has the biggest civilian budget but:

1)  I am for exploration of the neighborhood of Earth, including the Moon with robots. Mars is a big waste of time (and money). Humans should stay on Earth, unless NASA and other institutions alike (European space agency) can build and operate a flawless and very safe shuttle.

2)  I support the construction of satellites/robots to explore deep space, like telescopes and other instruments.

I am against the other options because:

a) very expensive and low payback, like exploring the dead moons of Saturn or Jupiter.

b) not safe if not dangerous, like the space shuttle.

c) not feasible like sending men/women to MARS.

Conclusion: money badly spent or too dangerous.

Answer 7

if they can spend billions on war imagine where we would in space exploration. i would rather pay for humanity to move forward than backward.

Answer 8

Space exploration is a great way to keep the high-tech folks off the streets and engaged in honest work. Otherwise they just build scary weapons systems and the like, which, let's face it, kinda cost a lot for junk you hope they never get to use. Exploring space, though, has marvelous spin-offs, all out in the open where humanity can benefit. And, there's the international cooperation aspect. Exploration and scientific pursuits ennoble people. I don't know if you're this old, but if you were around in 1969 you'd remember how much the Moon landing boosted our image in the world, and erased petty nationalism at the same time. Billions of people felt that "we" made it to the Moon, the "we" meaning humanity. Good stuff.

Answer 9

Oh, one of my favorite subjects.  

Do you have a cell phone?  Do you use the internet?  Do you want to know the weather forecast?

All of those things depend on satellites.  Satellites seem kind of low tech now, but 50 years ago, they were a real big deal.

There's no telling what developments will come from the space exploration of today.

Besides, it's human nature to explore.  Aren't you curious about what's out there?

It's worth the money.