[Jack_Crossitt]

America already spends $15.5 billion per year on space exploration, less than 1 percent of the overall federal budget. I read about this and I personally feel that they could spend the money on much more worthwhile projects - like health, security, the homeless, education, many things. It would be sensible to leave space exploration alone. We have learnt enough and really don't need to know much more about what is out there. There are more important things to spend money on and space is not one of them.

Anyone agree or disagree?

[BB8:(]

total agree they havent even landed on the moon yet

[Scarlett.]

Thing is the money is an object, who cares? we should go to space

[bananarama]

I strongly disagree. Space exploration creates high tech jobs and high tech inventions which benefit all. Keeping skilled people in work is not a wast of money........Spending on some of the items listed below is a blatent wast of money.....

Before calling for the cost of space exploration to be spent on other things. Why not call for money not to be wasted on Cosmetics, Gambling, BB voting and such, Big gas guzzling cars, Football matches, Pop music DVD, Films and so and so on. All the above are trivia spending when you consider the starvation that goes on in the world. In the pop world a few get fithy rich at the expence of those who spend on trivia.

Now why do not those that spend on trivia suggest giving up their money wasting habits...

Space research is always an easy target when it comes to ethical spending when in fact you can be sure one day space research will save this planet.....

[bananarama]

Originally posted by BB8
total agree they havent even landed on the moon yet

I agree they have certainly not landed on the moon yet. USA biggest con of all times. However I don't agree space exploration is a wast...

[Sticks]

Originally posted by bananarama

I agree they have certainly not landed on the moon yet. USA biggest con of all times. However I don't agree space exploration is a wast...

Oh yeah



See this site

And this one

[bananarama]

Originally posted by Sticks

Oh yeah



See this site

And this one

The counter arguments are as big a load of rubbish as the supposed landing.....Strange how they supposedly have the technology to get there yet it will need another 20 years or more before they return. As I said USA biggest con of all times.......

[Harry!]

Originally posted by Jack_Crossitt
America already spends $15.5 billion per year on space exploration, less than 1 percent of the overall federal budget. I read about this and I personally feel that they could spend the money on much more worthwhile projects - like health, security, the homeless, education, many things. It would be sensible to leave space exploration alone. We have learnt enough and really don't need to know much more about what is out there. There are more important things to spend money on and space is not one of them.

Anyone agree or disagree?

wow,how much!

[Sticks]

Back then, we had this little thing called the Cold War and there was political will. Today there is not the political will so much, and also back then we were not as risk averse as we are now.

[bananarama]

Originally posted by Sticks
Back then, we had this little thing called the Cold War and there was political will. Today there is not the political will so much, and also back then we were not as risk averse as we are now.

The political will to fake the landing and put the russians space program out of joint. In that respect they did a good job....It will take 20 years or more now because they do not have and never have had the technology to get there and back alive........

[Jack_Crossitt]

Originally posted by bananarama
I strongly disagree. Space exploration creates high tech jobs and high tech inventions which benefit all. Keeping skilled people in work is not a wast of money........Spending on some of the items listed below is a blatent wast of money.....

Before calling for the cost of space exploration to be spent on other things. Why not call for money not to be wasted on Cosmetics, Gambling, BB voting and such, Big gas guzzling cars, Football matches, Pop music DVD, Films and so and so on. All the above are trivia spending when you consider the starvation that goes on in the world. In the pop world a few get fithy rich at the expence of those who spend on trivia.

Now why do not those that spend on trivia suggest giving up their money wasting habits...

Space research is always an easy target when it comes to ethical spending when in fact you can be sure one day space research will save this planet.....

There are many good reasons for Space exploration and you have certainly highlighted some very good examples above. Astronomy is also a very interesting subject for children and adults alike. From what we come to learn about space and planets, etc is fascinating, educational and important too. Like you rightly said: it could one day save our planet. I also agree that we do waste money on many unimportant ventures and products, but that is another debate. But for every positive, there is a definite negative and when you look at the amount of money which George Bush has set aside in his budget for Space exploration, you need to think of priorities. I think he should at least halve that amount, lets say $7 billion. I know that Space exploration is expensive business, but so is many other projects and important essential mediums - like I also mentioned above.

I have to disagree with your opinion on wasting money on: health, security, the homeless, education. None of those examples I gave are a waste. Keeping people healthy and the health service is very important. That saves lives. Keeping children educated is also very important - a top priority everywhere really. Getting people off the streets and into homes is also vital. Nobody in the 21st century should have to live that way in a civilised society in which Americans live in, just like ourselves here in Great Britain/Europe. So far as my example on security is concerned, after 9/11 and other terrorism attacks or the threat of attacks - I can only re-emphasise the importance of: security.

I think we should agree that the immense amount spent on Space exploration and the need to further our knowledge on space should be overshadowed by more important things. Let us sort out our own planets problems, before throwing more and more money into space, which is a real waste after all.

[Jack_Crossitt]

Originally posted by Chewy
Thing is the money is an object, who cares? we should go to space

You could say that money is an object - but George Bush also has a budget and even though it is only 1% of the total budget, it is still too much money for something which we really don't need to know much more about

[messierhunter]

Originally posted by bananarama

The political will to fake the landing and put the russians space program out of joint. In that respect they did a good job....It will take 20 years or more now because they do not have and never have had the technology to get there and back alive........

I'm sorry but this is just plain wrong. It's taking us 20 years to go back because we aren't funding the return to the moon nearly as much as we funded the initial journey. Aside from developing totally new spacecraft, it costs a good chunk of change to build expendable boosters with enough kick to put men on the moon, that's why they cut the program short - no one wanted to keep funding high enough to keep building Saturn Vs. In 1965 NASA was receiving 24.79 billion dollars, and nearly all of it was dedicated to landing men on the moon (adjusted for inflation to 1996 dollars). Today they are receiving a mere 13 billion (in 1996 dollars) and are having to continue to fund other science programs at the same time that they return to the moon. They are being asked to do more with half the money they got before, so it should be no surprise that it will take twice as long to do. We're going to be sending more men and more equipment than we did before, so that means bigger launching requirements, and more money being spent.

On the other hand, there is absolutely no reason to believe we didn't go to the moon, there are no true anomolies in the moon photos and videos, only false pretenses about what you "should" see in pictures taken on the surface of the moon.

[Sticks]

Originally posted by bananarama

The political will to fake the landing and put the russians space program out of joint. In that respect they did a good job....It will take 20 years or more now because they do not have and never have had the technology to get there and back alive........

If this had been faked, then the Russians would have exposed it and embarrassed the US. Plus as this was done in the full glare of publicity, other countries, not friendly with the US were monitoring this and would have cried foul.

Why would the deadly foe of the US at that time acknowledge that they did happen if it did not. The Soviets admitted that the Americans did land on the Moon.

As far as "safely" that is usually taken to mean the radiation issue,

which is addressed here

What is also forgotten, in the run up to Apollo were the Murcury and the Gemini missions which rought in quite a lot of data for the later missions.

[messierhunter]

Originally posted by Jack_Crossitt

You could say that money is an object - but George Bush also has a budget and even though it is only 1% of the total budget, it is still too much money for something which we really don't need to know much more about

We need to know a LOT more about what's out there. It could lead to breakthroughs in new forms of energy production, the spinoffs of technology designed for spacetravel has given us huge health and living benefits on earth. Pace makers, tennis shoes, personal computers, radiation hazard detectors, emergency rescue equipment, self-righting life rafts, safer mammography x-rays, all are things that are either made possible by, or enhanced by space technology spinoffs. Without space travel you wouldn't have these things. Early hurricane detection, warning, and tracking? Forget about it, without funding space programs your accuracy in tracking storms will falter. We cannot afford to stop funding the space program, it's only a tiny part of the budget and the benefits are priceless because they save human lives.

[Jack_Crossitt]

Originally posted by messierhunter

We need to know a LOT more about what's out there. It could lead to breakthroughs in new forms of energy production, the spinoffs of technology designed for spacetravel has given us huge health and living benefits on earth. Pace makers, tennis shoes, personal computers, radiation hazard detectors, emergency rescue equipment, self-righting life rafts, safer mammography x-rays, all are things that are either made possible by, or enhanced by space technology spinoffs. Without space travel you wouldn't have these things. Early hurricane detection, warning, and tracking? Forget about it, without funding space programs your accuracy in tracking storms will falter. We cannot afford to stop funding the space program, it's only a tiny part of the budget and the benefits are priceless because they save human lives.

I can only agree with the positives you have mentioned, but we need to look at what is happening in our own world first and every pound/dollar thrown into space is a pound/dollar less spent on more pressing priorities and personally I feel it is a waste of money. Every dollar that George Bush and his predecessors have spent on space has been very useful indeed and I couldn't agree more, that they need to continue spending some amount, but the amount should be halved, as we have come to a point now where we seem to be wasting billions of dollars.

If $7 billion was enough and there was $8 billion spare, then they would find something to spend that amount on. Pointless ventures in space which are just not needed. We have really learnt enough and a smaller budget would give us what we require, but a bigger one is a waste of money and from what I read, George Bush wants to increase that amount

[spacebandit]

If mankind hadn't spent the money after 1945 killing each other, and making weapons, unused, to destroy the world and instead spent the money of exploring our environment and outer space we would probably be on Mars now and preparing for future missions beyond.

Instead we rape the planet to the point where we are about to return to the stone age - and we, as a species, deserve it - maybe we'll do better second time around.

[BB8:(]

Why has America not sent anyone else to the moon then (because it impossible with the technology e have today)

also the Hubble space telescope is powerful enough to see the landing sight so why wont America let us see it

[Sticks]

Originally posted by BB8
Why has America not sent anyone else to the moon then (because it impossible with the technology e have today)

also the Hubble space telescope is powerful enough to see the landing sight so why wont America let us see it

1) We had the technology, but it was expensive and riskier than people are prepared to accept today. Check the details of the Soviet programme and how they kept going despite the high cost in lives.

2) The issue with Hubble is to do with optical resolution and light. At long distances it can grab light from Galaxies at the edge of the known universe, but it takes a long time to acquire it. Now try staring at the moon and then see if you can see anything else in the night sky. Hubble can only image the moon briefly without doing any damage. Also it does not have the optical resolution to image something that small

For all you answers try this site which has been put up by someone not connected with NASA, but is a trained Aeronautical engineer with extensive experience of the theatre and lighting.

[MR.K!]

the moon landing was fake... because in the actual moon landing they show the american flag waving.. but in space there is no gravity so it would be inpossible as there is no wind or currents...

[Red Moon]

Originally posted by Caw
the moon landing was fake... because in the actual moon landing they show the american flag waving.. but in space there is no gravity so it would be inpossible as there is no wind or currents...

All these points have been answered by NASA

Originally posted by NASA
Not every waving flag needs a breeze -- at least not in space. When astronauts were planting the flagpole they rotated it back and forth to better penetrate the lunar soil (anyone who's set a blunt tent-post will know how this works). So of course the flag waved! Unfurling a piece of rolled-up cloth with stored angular momentum will naturally result in waves and ripples -- no breeze required!

Source: The Great Moon Hoax

[Retroman]

Space exploration isn't a total waste...
However, the technology we do gain from it, would be better if ONLY that technology was researched.

Without the shuttle launch and everything else that comes with it.
Our space exploration is very limited, and im afraid to say there's probably not a great deal we can learn from nearby planets...
Spending such a high amount of money on researching rather pointless and non beneficial matters of the moon, or mars, isn't such a wise move in my opinion. It's just money wasted on curiousity, curiousity that really isn't benefitting anyone at all.

Perhaps we should be more concerned with our own planet, instead of planets with virtually nothing of importance on them.

In short, I do think such a large amount of money could do a lot more good for our world if it was spent on those that needed it. Our technology needs to advance much, much further before space exploration becomes something worth putting so much money into, in my eyes.

You could argue that our current space exploration is what's moving us towards more advanced technology. But as I said, all the technology involved can easily be invented and researched without actually having to explore space. Exploring space being the one thing that takes up quite a lot of the budget.

[Sticks]

Originally posted by Caw
the moon landing was fake... because in the actual moon landing they show the american flag waving.. but in space there is no gravity so it would be inpossible as there is no wind or currents...

If you do not trust NASA

Try this site from an independent analyst

Also you may want to try this little movie

Youtube video

[Sticks]

The flag

Youtube video

[Sticks]

Youtube video

Part 3