OK Joe, when Jesus says "spend the money on rockets", I'll concede the argument. I'm not against a manned presence in space. I still want to be an astronaut when I grow up. I'm against spending SO MUCH money on destruction. I sincerely doubt that Jesus would go for military spending (unless it was an ointment contract I suppose). Lets take five percent of the military budget and divert it to manned space exploration and new vehicle development. Same jobs, for the most part. The spin-off argument is good PR but I have yet to see a solid cost analysis on return per dollar spent. WWJL (What Would Jesus Launch) On 3/29/11, Joe Bauman <josephmbauman@yahoo.com> wrote:
The point isn't how do we get into low-Earth orbit, via Soyuz or shttle; the point is that we need to sustain our crewed space program. If you look at just the practical returns we've had from the program so far, let alone the intangibles, you have to admit it has been a bargain. The same arguments about tight money have killed other important scientific endeavors, and I say they are bogus. They are what forced the country to give up on moon exploration after such a promising start. I'm not religious, but a quote from Jesus seems appropriate: when questioned about the expense of some lotion Mary Magdalene was using to anoint his feet, as the money could have been used for the poor, Jesus said not to worry about that "For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always." We will always have other expenses but if we don't keep crewed space exploration alive now it will slip from our hands. Thanks, Joe