The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[sleepyjeff]

Originally Posted by Alex

Still waiting for some hard science. I in no way question the engineering achievements that have spun off from NASA in recent decades through the manned-spaceflight programs. Though most of them I'd question whether they're development was uniquely dependent on manned spaceflight or if that just provided one of many possible development platforms.

And I'm sure plenty of hard science has been done but most of does not actually requires humans to be present. It is always a challenge for NASA to find actual scientific-type things for them to do. That's why now that we've pretty much finished the ISS they need to either now redo it towards more scientific goals or just let the program expire, it has no inherent purpose other than PR.

But still, I'm all in favor of manned spaceflight in private hands, and manned-spaceflight by the government if they can show an actual strong benefit beyond PR. But since they haven't accomplished that after 50 years of having a space program I doubt they'll come up with something soon.

Ok, I see what you're saying.