Quote:
Originally Posted by Papa_Complex
At this point I really don't think that America will ever set foot on the moon again because NASA is given chump change, and their budget is likely to only go down from here, as it has in the past. Like always, people are saying that the money is better spent "at home." It doesn't matter if the economy is good or bad; they parrot the same words.
So few people see the value, but space has always paid off in the past. Unless you're Grizzly Adams, you don't go a single day without being touched by the technologies that have come out of the space programme.
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I don't see $17 billion as chump change. While the budget dropped after Apollo we still spend more today on NASA than we did when the shuttles were being built even after inflation is factored in.
I think we would be more likely to be working toward going deeper in to space if we hadn't had to pay for portions of the international space station that were supposed to be the responsibility of other nations. About the only things that have ended up being international about it are the stickers going on the sides of the modules, the astronauts being sent, and where parts are being built. As far as the money side is concerned it has primarily been an American project. We could have paid for a moon program with the money spent on the international space station.
I think you are right that America, on its own, will never go to the moon again. There is no reason to go to the moon unless it is to advance going deeper in to space. I doubt any country will be able to afford deep space missions on their own. I believe the next step will be required to be undertaken by an international coalition due to the expense and complexity demanded. Currently I don't see any other nations stepping up to take part. Even if they were, America is understandably a little hesitant after getting stuck with most of the check for the international space station.
I see the value from new space exploration. I don't see the value of going down the same road we traveled 40 years ago just to see if it can still be done, a foregone conclusion in my mind.
Space does "pay off" in a global community, humanitarian kind of way. If it payed off in a checks in the national treasury kind of way more nations would attempt it on the scale America has.