So I was having this conversation with a friend of mine and he was like "Well, I don't know what you feel about this, but I think the Gov't spends way to much $$ on the Space Program. It seems like a huge waste of money to be exploring everywhere else and letting our own economy go to the crapper."

I haven't really looked into it much, but it got me thinking on that same line. Have we truelly accomplished enough in the space program to massively funding it? Is the Productivity to capital enough to continue this?

What great feats that can further economy have they made?

Just curious...I am sure that somebody can help explain the pros and cons to the space program/NASA.

The NASA budget is about 1 percent of the total budget. I don't see how that little amount could help the rest of the needs for space exploration is something that develops jobs, pushes science and materials, helps humans understand about themselves and does many other great and usefull things that no other agency does.

I guess a major question is this... Is there a need for space exploration? You say it creates jobs, but there is still a lot of work to be done to understand our own planet, let alone a massive Universe that we cannot even touch and who knows if it will ever be touched. Don't get me wrong now, I think that the walking on the moon was impressive and all of the satellites that orbit, but these are still things that focus on earth. Is there a point right now to focus on anything else besides planet earth?

it might be 1% buts it hundreds of billions of dollars.

I can't think of anything to do with hundreds of billions of dollars :D

When we study the cosmos we are studying ourselves at the same time. That is where we originated from and perhaps one day will return to visit out there beyond our own little solar syatem. We have satellites in orbit that watch the weather and send TV transmissions as well as radio transmissions around the world which helps everyone everytwhere. NASA is needed, but using robotic type of craft and using space stations above the Earth will be the best way to explore and understand spaceand ourselves better.

In terms of finding ET out there, save the money and let ET find us...........Right now I don't think ET even if he were out there, has any interest in contacting us or visiting this place anyway.........Even ET knows that it requires to many resources and a great amount of energy and $$$ to get here. So NASA, save a few million hundred $$$ and send the robots into space instead.

Yob Atta

CUT THE SPACE PROGRAM!!!! Well I’m sorta a geek on this so I am going to be biased but we need to continue to push the envelope and develop our understanding of the universe. Soon enough there will even be people living on other planets. Besides, in order to overcome the requirements of getting to space there have been many advances that go onto the commercial market and completely new materials that have been created. I believe that the most well used is plastic. Not found by the space program but I think that it has been perfected by it. Not to mention the cell phones that we all love are due to the continued existence of the space program. Those satellites aren’t permanent you know. They have to be replaced. What about the weather men that are always so incorrect :) Same thing as the cell phones.

SETI on the other hand is another matter. I think that there are ETs out there but that SETI has less of a chance of finding them then I have of getting you all to worship me as a god :) It is very important to keep looking but radio waves? That just wont cut it and we don’t have anything better so just hold it off until we do. Then again that budget is most likely so low that it wont matter anyway.

I think that the walking on the moon was impressive and all of the satellites that orbit, but these are still things that focus on earth
There will always be things to focus on on earth. If we wait until there are no problems on earth, we'll never conquer space. There's a whole universe of riches out there, waiting for us. We can either reach out and take it, or wallow around fighting over scraps here on earth.

There will always be things to focus on on earth. If we wait until there are no problems on earth, we'll never conquer space. There's a whole universe of riches out there, waiting for us. We can either reach out and take it, or wallow around fighting over scraps here on earth.
That's a very pessimistic attitude.

I for one don't really see the benefit of sending a few rovers to Mars at the cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. In truth, we don't gain greatly for such a feat. Perhaps it might entertain us, but the money could easily go towards defeating world hunger or finding the cure to aids. However, I don't disagree with the practical gains of the program (e.g. sending satellites into space).

Nasa’s budget is $14 billion a year, or about .6% of the national budget, NASA also does research into aircraft design and systems (its not call the National Aeronautics and space Administration for nothing). Cutting or liquidating NASA would provide very little money for everything else and would hurt needed aeronautics technology, it would also leave space technology development to other countries.

Space technology is needed! It does many great things from Satellites that allow global communication, navigation and understand of our world, to experiment that enhance our understand of everything! Manned space program is also needed, as living on earth is not something the human race can do forever.

That's a very pessimistic attitude.

I for one don't really see the benefit of sending a few rovers to Mars at the cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. In truth, we don't gain greatly for such a feat. Perhaps it might entertain us, but the money could easily go towards defeating world hunger or finding the cure to aids. However, I don't disagree with the practical gains of the program (e.g. sending satellites into space).

We spent $820 million on the mars rovers, or about the price of a mocha latte coffee for every American. To say your extreme exaggeration or ignorance angers me is an understatement.

I look at it this way:
Every dollar launced into space is one less dollar available for spending on fueling terrorism -- you know -- "defense" (nukes, occupation of Iraq, funding Israel, etc..). Money IS the root of all evil. The more we throw away into space, the better.

Considering the $460 billion the USA spends on it's military, equal to nearly half of the world military budget, cutting there instead of nasa make much much better sense

Originally posted by: Tano
I for one don't really see the benefit of sending a few rovers to Mars at the cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. In truth, we don't gain greatly for such a feat. Perhaps it might entertain us, but the money could easily go towards defeating world hunger or finding the cure to aids.

I am willing to bet that there were those people that said the exact same thing when man was attempting to learn to fly, or perhaps explore the deep sea, or those that rejected Columbus on those same type statements. The fact is that whenever you set out to broaden our horizons it seems to help humanity as a whole. Space exploration may well hold many of the secrets to solving some of those problems here on earth. Just because you cant see it does not mean there is no benefits. Besides, if we had always given up on science to focus on our many flaws we would still be grunting in caves.