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The U.S. Space Shuttle Program:
Cost of launching each Shuttle, per launch: $450 million (estimated)
Cost of the Space Shuttle program since 1981: more than $200 billion (estimated)
Return on Investment (ROI) of the Shuttle program: Ummm . . . uh . . . hmmm
There are many useful developments of the space program that have benefited us in other ways: medicine, technology, etc. But my question is: Why couldn't we have spent the 200 billion on research for those things, instead of using that as an excuse to continue such a costly, mostly useless, ego-driven program.
ReplyDeleteIf it had lead to further space exploration and human advancement beyond a few scientific bits, I'd disagree with your sentiment. But after the Challenger disaster, NASA seemed to get scared of doing anything and became a joke.
ReplyDeleteMy hope used to be it would help us colonize the moon and there'd be a place to send Republicans when they got too full of themselves. So much for THAT idea.