why is the US going into space and is it worth the price?

Answer 1

Do you like your Ipod? Home computer? Advil, Cardiac surgery advances, Cell phone? refrigeration, GPS
Heck, the space program gave us 100's of advances and products in almost every field of endeavor that we take for granted today.

Answer 2

First don't believe the NASA propiganda about how everything from toaster strudel to French kissing is the direct result of NASA and the space program. That is bull. Most of the technolgy they claim to have "invented" was simply USED in the space program... much of it was the result of defense related research that NASA CONTRACTORS USED... didn't fund, didn't develop, didn't invent.

Microsoft has done far more for the personal computer than NASA ever did.

Even if it was true, it is a stupid argument. If you want to develop a better personal computer, you fund research into personal computers... you don't pour billions into a flight to Mars and hope that a better personal computer pops out.

We go into space for two reasons. Exploration (and eventual colonization) and politics.

Exploration is cool. Just as it took generations before the colonization of the New World started to really pay off, the ulitimate benifit of space exploration won't be felt for hundreds of years, until humans are colonizing other worlds. Space offers us literally LIMITLESS resources... all the metal and energy you can possibly desire, and all of it free for the taking. Our children, their children, all the way down the generations, they will not have to live in poverty or scaricity due to lack of resources. That's pretty cool.

Politics pays off right now though. Military satilites helped avoid WW3. We got to look at the USSR and they got to look at us. It gave us a way to verify that arms control agreements wern't being broken. It gave both sides data about what the other was doing, they didn't have to guess. It took a certian amount of uncertianty and tension out of the equation at a time when half the planet was about an hour and half away from nuking the other half out of existance.

Not getting the planet turned into a radioactve cinder... priceless.

(Weather satilites are pretty cool too. Just ask anyone who had warning and was able to get out of town before a hurricane hit. )

Lastly we, and other nations, go into space for prestige. In another age we would have built battleships or founded colonies... now we plant flags on the Moon or send back pictures from the surface of Titan to show how our technolgy works.

This was important during the Cold War becuase it helped to impress the allies of the USA and the USSR. When Neal Armstrong put an AMERICAN flag into the Sea of Tranquilty, and Alexi Leonov didn't put a Soviet one up, that sent the whole human race a message about who had the best technology, who had the best industry, and who was most likelty to win the Cold War.

It is important today for similar reasons. China puts men into orbit to show that China is a "First Class Nation" now. Only USSR, USA and China have ever put someone into orbit. Space, especially manned spaceflight, is a game that only superpowers can afford to play, and when you stop playing superpower games, you stop being a superpower.

Just ask the Brits and the French if you don't believe me.

So yes, it is worth it.

Answer 3

Because it is there.

Worth it? Not everything. The ISS is probably never going to recoup the investment, the space shuttle is a net loss operationally. But the info gathered by the Hubble Space Telescope are invaluable, the weather reports from satellites saved countless lives, earth sensing satellites created new businesses. It has been estimated that every dollar spent in space operation brings back $7 as new business opportunities. A seven fold return on investment is something that is quite unusual.

Answer 4

Was it worthwhile going into Iraq? That cost many times more than a manned mission to Mars...

The US is going to space to learn more about the universe. The value of learning and discovery is endless. It might seem paradoxal but we can learn a great deal about earth by going into space and studying the planets. Not to mention what satellites monitoring earth can do in climate research and weather/storm prediction. Space exploration is for the benefit of all mankind. Why are some so obsessed by putting a pricetag on that?

Answer 5

Could have done just a little research maybe type
Yahoo answers space "worth the cost" and found the 2600 other questions asked like this one.

Answer 6

Here's a (partial) list of some of the benefits we get from space travel and research:
>much of our computer technology
>weather satellites that,among other things, save lives.
>communications satellites--including GPS systems, satellite TV and radio
>solar energy technology (and hydrogen fueel cells)
>matierals such as carbon composites (one aplication: new stronger, laighter aircraft-saer and more fuel efficient)
>medical diagnostic technology tha tsaves more lives

Here's some of the competition: Britain, Germany, Italy, France, India, Russia, China, Japan, Australia. Several have maned space programs or are starting them.

These countries know what our leaders in Washington (who continue to cut NASA's budget) have forgotten: advanced technology that dirives economic growth requires investment in basic science and research--and space is one of the best ways to do that. NASA has paid for itself many times over.

And unless we want to become a second-rate country in the coming decades, we will either compete in space--or settle for being left behind.

Answer 7

The U.S.A. Go's to space because we are one of the richest countries in the world and we can afford it and yes it's worth it! the spin offs of the new technologies that we developed help us out in life! the question that you ask, you can write a book on this! GREAT QUESTION!

Thank You,

Bob

Answer 8

Vincent G has it right. Add too that a useless manned expedition to a big rock (the moon), and another bigger rock (mars), not to mention the dangers to human life.

Bringing on new technologies is a good thing, but sometimes we forget that these new technologies need an ultimate use.

Answer 9

The US, as far as I know, has stayed fixed to the surface of the Earth since its inception. Rockets have gone into space, but the US has generally stayed put.

Answer 10

There is no better way to suck $ out of the U.S than a space program... Billions?

One day we will realize that the Utopia we are searching for out there is actually right here at home...