Is the Space Program Progressive?

[durutti]

Why or why not?

[durutti]

1. I'm a fence-sitter.

On what hand, I want to see it's progressive because it is an encouragement of science, learning, and discovery.

On the other hand, I want to say: we have enough problems to deal with on Earth. Why spend money exploring space? There's also certainly an imperialistic element to space exploration. After all, the space program itself was a product of competition with the Soviets.

[rman]

7. space program budget is a tiny fraction of the total

If you want to argue for spending more on solving problems, then why spent so much on for instance war and corporate wellfare?

Do you really think the US would not have gone to space if Russians hadn't?

Any kind of exploration is progressive by it's very nature.
But it can be corrupted and bastardized. NASA these days consists mostly of management, most engineers were fired and almost everything is done by lowest-bid contractors. By firing the engineers NASA lost valuable knowledge it had accumulated over many decades, and most of these contractors are reinventing the wheel that NASA has thrown out. Who makes these decicions? Management does. Who benefits? Management does (in the short run anyway; they get to keep their job for now).
NASA these days is run by people who are beholden to corporate interests, not to the endevour of space exploration, so the US space program isn't very progressive any more.

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. not at the moment, it isnt.

I live in Palmdale, where the Shuttles and the B-2's were built and the most progressive aspects of any American space program seem to be coming from about 35 miles up the road in Mojave, CA where Burt Rutan (of the Rutan brothers, of the non-stop, non refueled round-the-world flight Voyager fame) is doing some pretty neat stuff; http://www.scaled.com/

Do a search on "Dick Rutan" or "Burt Rutan" or check here; http://www.affordablespaceflight.com/home.html

"Without a clear vision of the future we flounder in the present."
--Dr. Sally Ride, 1st American Woman in Space

[JailBush]

3. The space program is Chinese. N/T

[Classical_Liberal]

4. Yes, it gives the military industrial complex something

constructive to do, so they don't forment wars like Iraq, and it contributes to scientific understanding.

[Dr Fate]

5. At it's best, the concept is as Liberal as it gets...

...it's all about exploring, and changing our perspective of the universe...It's about an industry that could be CONSTRUCTIVE rather than destructive...

It's about not giving up hope-it symbolizes human endeavor...Most Conservatives see the Space program as useless, except for military applications- the whole idea screws with their concept of creation and God...

[DeepModem Mom]

6. It's progressive in the sense that it expands...

scientific knowledge and the horizons of the mind. The nuts and bolts of it -- the contracts and politics -- diminish it.

[Jane Roe]

8. The less government, the better, I say.

The space program shows why:

I love the noble aspirations of the space program. Yet, somehow I don't get a fair return in proportionate good results from the tax money I pay in to the program. Although I consider the moon landing a good result, I consider the shuttle explosions to be a disaster that roughly cancel out our triumph of the moon landing. On balance, I consider the space program to be a neutral thing -- a neutral thing that we all paid money for. I don't like paying money for a zero on the balance sheet of life.

I realize that there are things the federal government must do, but unless the task is something that must be taken care of, I prefer to have the federal government just forego the expenditures. Let the Russians and Chinese explore space. Let's have the US federal government use its resources to focus on healthcare and environmental concerns -- or even the budget deficit.

[wuushew]

12. But yet the American economy went south after Apollo

Seems that all that government spending was good for the American economy.

[ulysses]

9. I don't know about *our* space program

but I would say that the exploration of space definitely is. rman is right - if you're looking to channel money away from less worthy and toward more worthy goals, there are far fatter turkeys than NASA. Meantime, I think it's necessary if only to prove to ourselves that we can do more as a species than produce little plastic baubles.

[Touchdown]

10. It has been estimated that NASA has put into the world 90 times...

the amount of money it has costed us, making it the most bang for the buck government program ever. Especially through it's innovations and inventions, it has touched, and benefitted all of our lives in some way or another, and I'm not just talking about TANG, corningware and velcro.

Check these innovations out...all of which were NASA sponsored research at one time or another...

integrated Circuits (your typing on one)
magnetic levitation
jet propulsion
satellite communications
hydroponics
Aerodynamic fuel efficiency
osmosis landfill reclamation
sub-orbital air travel (LA to Tokyo in 1 hour)
hydrogen fuels
solar power
surgical probes
dehydration/rehydration
fetal health sensors
biofeedback
fire protective clothing
rayon
osteoporosis relieving medicine
and numerous others....many of which falls right into what progressives want, like health care, eradicating hunger, clean alternative fuels, alternative mass transit, investments in medicine and the list literally goes on, and more yet to come.

I haven't even gotten into the education benefits of space exploration, in what we learned about our universe, and the various offshoot sciences in order to get us into space.

I vehemently disagree with the Canadian up there who says she hasn't benefitted from NASA. She has, even if she doesn't realize it.

[Muddleoftheroad]

11. Well said

We need to reach for the stars again with gusto.

[donsu]

13. reach for the stars with one hand and use mop and bucket to clean up

our earth with the other hand so we can survive to explore space.

[Muddleoftheroad]

14. Not exactly true

By reaching for the stars, mankind has indeed improved its lot here on earth and would continue to do so. Look at all the minerals in space. Wouldn't you rather strip mine an asteroid than a countryside?

Moving into space faster would make things better on earth, not worse.