Why do we spend Billions of tax dollars every year on the space shuttle and space exploration ?

Answer 1

Because the enormous defense budget had a few pennies to spare.

Answer 2

For the advancement of scientific and technological knowledge. * The Apollo project and the resulting drive towards the miniaturization of electronics is the reason why we can have computers in almost every home today. The Apollo Command Module computer although primitive by today's' standards was considered a marvel of early miniature electronics. In those days a computer was huge, filling more than one room, and were unbelievably expensive.

Even the cordless appliances we take for granted every day are a direct result of the early types of equipment developed for use on the surface of the Moon.

A country or a civilization is only as intelligent as to the extent that it strives to be.

All this being fine and dandy, government bureauocicies have always had an inate sense for self preservation.


To an extent, an in the guise of all those lofty goals, NASA has operated for fifty years with the assumption that serious accidents involving loss of life would not sit well with the American public and could end U.S. involvement in manned space travel the biggest result being, the loss of their jobs.
We found out this was at least partially true. A lot of the top people were booted out after the Challenger and Columbia accidents.

A lot of time and expense was invested in what NASA called tripple redundancy. A system, a backup for that system, and another backup just in case. This resulted in space travel seemingly made easy but in fact a lot was spent to make sure it looked easy. The results were that all space craft especially those that carry humans were designed in a way that made them far more expensive and complicated than they would have otherwise been.

Answer 3

Space shuttle: We aren't much longer. It was a good experiment. It was supposed to make manned space flight cheap, safe, and routine. It failed miserably in that regard. On the other hand, we learned a lot about safety, it provided a way to take relatively large objects into space, and provided a way to bring stuff back from space.
Space exploration: Science is one big puzzle. The more we learn about each piece, the more we know about all the pieces.

Answer 4

It is similar in nature although on a much smaller scale than the corporate welfare system commonly referred to as the Department of Defense (DoD). As someone else pointed out it is a small amount of money relatively speaking. But waste it nonetheless is. During the days of the "race to the moon" it was just one of those whose got the bigger male appendage contests that the US and Soviet governments liked to childishly play at the expense of the millions of citizens in both those countries. When you have male dominated societies (not that they are inherently bad but I would think the history of mankind would be sufficient evidence that perhaps male dominated anything is not such a wise idea) then bad stuff invariably happens (I include women such as Margaret Thatcher since she really did her best to be just one of the boys).
But I digress (perhapt it is the late hour, I tend to get very loquacious as I get tired and please ignore any typos since I am rather falling asleep). Space exploration along with the little soldier stuff the pentagon does and the spy guys are burdens that in this day and age should be mostly abolished. Hunger, polution, over-population, etc are problems we should be addressing not whether or not we can send some people up to the moon to put a little flag on it. And, incidentally, there has been very little that has come out of the space program of any practical use and that could not have been developed at far less cost.

As far as the pentagon I can testify to the waste since I have been part of it (I always considered it just a way that I could get my tax money returned to me). I have spent a good part of my "career" simply wasting time. NASA is science but the billions wasted on going to the moon, the billions now being wasted on shuttles and space stations should be stopped. Unmanned is much cheaper so perhaps that should still be done but there is absolutely no reason to spend the amounts of money we do simply so people can go a few miles upwards. The chinese and the japanese are now going to the moon. Let them waste their money. China would be better off spending it on quality control or ecology. And the japanese? Ah let them waste it.

Answer 5

We have to explore, even at the expense of other things. If we don't, things eventually come to a standstill. Humans cannot stay on Earth forever, and these ventures out into space will one day have to be commonplace. We have to start somewhere, but if people aren't willing to take the first steps, the journey will never take place.

I for one am so glad that Europe didn't wait to get itself into shape before colonizing the New World, that we didn't wait until we got the land all fixed up before we dove into the oceans, and that we didn't wait for our nation to be all in order before going off to help others. I think we shouldn't change this approach in the case of space.

Answer 6

Basically, we do this so we can continue to learn and have options for the future.

Think about all the technology and science that we have gained from space exploration. Microwaves, plastics, satellites, fire retardant material, rockets and modern aviation, telescopes, etc...space exploration has led to modern society. Your cell phone, tv, materials for your house, etc were all provided through space exploration.

Plus when we need more natural resources or a new place to live space exploration will hopefully provide that future for us by populating bodys in space.

Answer 7

Hi. The shuttle has unique traits. Space exploration is just part of being human.

Answer 8

The amount of money NASA gets (about 17 billion for 2008) each year is a very small drop in the bucket compared to the US budget.

Additionally, NASA is good for the economy. It employs thousands of professional workers, and the technological advancements that come from the reasearch done at NASA provide great benefits to society.

Answer 9

war may be a waste, but space is still very important. You may think space exploration is useless, but during the Rennaissance, some people thought exploration was useless, but look what they found. And the same applies to space. We just might (a slim chance) make contact with aliens, we might find planets with life. etc. And one solution to humans wrecking earth is moving off it.

Answer 10

Better to ask why you spend that much every day to carry on a war in Iraq which no one wants! Space exploration represents the best of humankind's aspirations, and produces thousands of scientific and technical benefits which enrich our lives every day.

Answer 11

About 17 billion. As opposed to the 17 trillion we are spending on the war - you know, killing people. Which sounds like a better use of the money?