NationStates Jolt Archive

I remember how significant the whole space programme seemed in the sixties and seventies. A large amount of money went into it but now with hindsight is doesn't seem to have produced much in the way of benefits. The internet seems to be bringing about a far more significant change in the world for a lot less money. Was the whole space thing a bit of a waste of time and money?

Hell no! Put more money into it!
I mean, the Hubble came out of it, right? We get some really fancy pictures out of that! :)

We need hi-res infra-red space cameras so we can see into changing rooms from space, damnit!

The space program was a waste only because the two powers were in such a race they didn't bother doing research into the best designs, they just sent the first thing that could get up and come back again. Had they spent time workingon more efficient and safer designs, maybe it would have been more useful.

I think you're confusing manned and unmanned space programs. The manned programs were basically a very expensive sporting event between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The U.S. won after spending a lot of money. The manned program had little scientific benefit. Even though the U.S. landed people on the moon the entire U.S. lunar program gained little more scientific infomation than the unmanned soviet luner exploration. It's possible to argue they gained less scientific infomation. The unmanned spaceprogram has been very helpful however and has given us communication and weather and resource satellites and has returned a wealth of scientific data.

So yes, the manned part was a waste of money, unless you value the second-hand thrill of it, but the unmanned part wasn't.

you don't think it produced much in the way of benefits? Don't tell that to firefighters who have better protective gear as a direct result of developments made for the space program. And that is just one small benefit to one industry.

Check out some of the things listed http://techtran.msfc.nasa.gov/at_home.html

you don't think it produced much in the way of benefits? Don't tell that to firefighters who have better protective gear as a direct result of developments made for the space program. And that is just one small benefit to one industry.

Scientific research has benefits that can make life better for all of humanity. Of course this applies to all research. There is nothing particularly special that makes research in space technology more valuable. For example if there had been an Ocean Race instead of a Space Race then the ocean exploration projects would have also produced many technical advances. It is interesting to speculate how things might have turned out differently.

PRESIDENT KENNEDY: The United States shall put a man at the bottom of the Marianus trench before the end of the decade!

KRUSHOV: That's nothing, the Soviet Union could do that easily.

YOUNG BRESHNEV: I think he means alive, comrade.

PRESIDENT KENNEDY: The United States shall put a man at the bottom of the Marianus trench before the end of the decade!

KRUSHOV: That's nothing, the Soviet Union could do that easily.

YOUNG BRESHNEV: I think he means alive, comrade.

LOL :p

Personally I think an Ocean Race would have been better. Less expensive, too.