I don't know that I would use a pandemic year as representative

Space is hard Very hard. But we used to do hard things. SpaceX is really trying - and doing a good job, but I fear that is entirely driven by one man, and he won't live forever.

I don't know if interstellar travel will ever be possible, but we are also a bit like paleolithic people deciding if its worth paddling a log across a river because obviously we will never be able to paddle that log across an ocean.

But if we don't try to cross the river we will never learn how to do more.

So true. We don’t know what we don’t know, which is why we need to get the knowledge, even if tiny step by tiny step.

Sadly, I think Mr. Musk is going to self implode, much like Howard Hughes.

Everyone has something different in mind when they say or hear this.
My take is that only a few tons of metal and other elements go into space. ALL of the money is spent right here on earth. It goes to the salaries of the scientists and engineers, as well as the doctors and technicians, and the miners and truck drivers and factory workers. It all goes to PEOPLE, right here on earth. And the benefits of the research are a benefit everyone on the planet in some way. NASA is one of the premier agencies that are helping to keep an eye on our climate. We are all much better off for the money we "send into space".

I've heard the argument that we should face urgent problems on Earth, but there are always urgent problems. War, hunger disease, poverty - they may always be with us.

I think its OK to spend some of our money on fantastic things. Some of it is because doing those things will help us on earth, but to me some of those things are the goal.

Even if going to the moon didn't benefit mankind in a direct way, still we did it. A bunch of hairless apes left their planet and crossed over a hundred thousand miles of hard vacuum to get to that big light in the sky. That light had taunted us for hundreds of thousands of years. Our ancestors probably climbed trees and mountains to try to touch it - and we finally did.






Everyone has something different in mind when they say or hear this.
My take is that only a few tons of metal and other elements go into space. ALL of the money is spent right here on earth. It goes to the salaries of the scientists and engineers, as well as the doctors and technicians, and the miners and truck drivers and factory workers. It all goes to PEOPLE, right here on earth. And the benefits of the research are a benefit everyone on the planet in some way. NASA is one of the premier agencies that are helping to keep an eye on our climate. We are all much better off for the money we "send into space".

I don't know that I would use a pandemic year as representative

Everyone has something different in mind when they say or hear this.
My take is that only a few tons of metal and other elements go into space. ALL of the money is spent right here on earth. It goes to the salaries of the scientists and engineers, as well as the doctors and technicians, and the miners and truck drivers and factory workers. It all goes to PEOPLE, right here on earth. And the benefits of the research are a benefit everyone on the planet in some way. NASA is one of the premier agencies that are helping to keep an eye on our climate. We are all much better off for the money we "send into space".

There is something about conquering the "barely possible" that is so satisfying that it offsets all inconvenience, pain and expense. My brother and I have climbed a dozen 14,000' mountains just to do it. It is often painful and taxing with a bit of danger thrown in at times, but the exhilaration must be kin to holding a baby after childbirth. (I've held the babies, but only watched the the births.)

In two days my wife, youngest son and I will begin six weeks of hiking the Appalachian Trail. We will be hot, wet, muddy, and visited by bugs and bears. Much will be steep both up and down. Walking in rain, sleeping on the ground, carrying forty pounds of gear and food mile after mile...doesn't sound so romantic, but the challenge drives us, like the moon drove our nation.

Sometimes the value is in the achievement rather than the product. So space exploration gives our nation and world an experience and an achievement we can be proud of and learn from. I can truly say after 70 years on this earth and 7 children, it is not the things I have given my children that are most precious to them, it is the experiences. They forget the things. They revel to my grandchildren about the experiences.

Press on...

It is truly astonishing what they have accomplished with this telescope. The technology that had to be created is incredible. So many innovations.
But for me, I don't see the need for deep space photos... Though they are pretty...
It is my belief that with that much brain power, and budget, if applied on earth, they could do more amazing accomplishments.

While I have heard this view often expressed by folks with good intentions, the historical evidence does not support the claim. So, in the spirit of honest discussion, how would you apportion NASA's paltry budget to measurably influence mankind in a positive way? What metric would you use to measure success?

While Nasa has a lengthy list (https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/file ... TAGGED.pdf) of the benefits of space exploration for the people on Earth, a more poignant example is Tesla. The rise of Electric Vehicles is often touted as being incredibly beneficial to both mankind and the planet. The ONLY reason EVs are even remotely viable right now is the drive of one man and his company - whose singular focus (including the reason Tesla exists as a company at all) is conquering Mars.

Additionally, due to that particular man, who has made Starlink and the orbital delivery system that put the satellites in orbit and then procured a gazillion ground stations for the people of Ukraine, the Russians have failed in their insane attempt at conquering their (mostly) peaceful neighbor and rendering yet another nation impoverished both economically and spiritually.

That's just one company. There are a host of others doing amazing work to get humanity into space, and their research is critical to the betterment of the lives of those who remain on Earth.

Microwaves to heat up a mediocre dinner
GPS to follow the magenta line
Weather Satellites for weather prediction
Helios A and B for solar flare prediction
Google Earth for catching your spouse at a strip club
Seafloor mapping satellites for finding underwater mountains that your submarine can run into
Velcro for kids shoes
Space blankets for cold nights
406 ELT for emergencies
Asteroid tracking because its easier to train oil field workers to be astronauts than vice versa

This is just off the top of my head. The space race isn't optional for humanity. It's mandatory.

JWST isn't about pretty pictures from space, that's just what NASA thinks the general public want's to see now. It's really about furthering our understanding of what makes the universe work and how it began. There's a good chance that it will result in a number of significant advancements in physics and astronomy during what is now likely to be a 20 year lifespan. Stay tuned.

That is a philosophical question, and some people have different points of view regarding this.
Yes, the advancement in technology that the various space programs have created is truly incredible. The list is very long.
Would those advancements, inventions, discoveries have happened other ways? Who knows... Probably would have taken longer. Necessity is the mother of inventions.
I have always question the need for deep space exploration. Reason being that it is not accessible to humans, nor verifiable by humans...
Space exploration is important as far as I am concern. The hubble telescope is already extremely powerful. And has brought what so far? How much better than the earth based telescope? I know that I may make some unhappy people with that statement. But I have yet to grasp the need to understand the "Big Bang" and the origin of our existence... More pressing issues at hand. 7 billions and counting. We do have other fishes to fry.

That is a philosophical question, and some people have different points of view regarding this.
Yes, the advancement in technology that the various space programs have created is truly incredible. The list is very long.
Would those advancements, inventions, discoveries have happened other ways? Who knows... Probably would have taken longer. Necessity is the mother of inventions.
I have always question the need for deep space exploration. Reason being that it is not accessible to humans, nor verifiable by humans...
Space exploration is important as far as I am concern. The hubble telescope is already extremely powerful. And has brought what so far? How much better than the earth based telescope? I know that I may make some unhappy people with that statement. But I have yet to grasp the need to understand the "Big Bang" and the origin of our existence... More pressing issues at hand. 7 billions and counting. We do have other fishes to fry.