Thread: Importance of Space Travel
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Old 05-20-2008   #3 (permalink)
mintshows
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Re: Importance of Space Travel
Well, working for NASA, I'm a little biased, however I believe that space travel is VERY important to our society. Now, do I believe that our next trip to the moon will bring about some huge change to our lives?? ...probably not.

Despite sometimes laughable mis-management (either caused by NASA itself, or the policy makers in DC), NASA has served us pretty well. I remember seeing a website a while back that listed over 1000 products that we use every day that originated at some point by NASA research.

Space exploration / experimentation has given us GPS, tremendous military advantages, tons of hi-tech materials. The Hubble Telescope has allowed us to gain more information about the origins of the universe than ever was conceived.

I do however believe that we would benefit from a strong private sector involved in space exploration. Currently the government has a pretty good monopoly over this...I believe the private sector could help off-set some of the costs....but that's another story.
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