Is space exploration is a waste of financial resources?

Answer 1

no

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Another contributor enlarged:

Space exploration will be a waste of financial resources the next time a large cargo vehicle is

loaded with $1,000 bills and launched, either on a course to leave earth and never return, or

to re-enter the earth's atmosphere and be totally incinerated. This has never been done yet.

Every cent spent so far on space exploration has been paid into the pockets of the people who

mine the chemicals and minerals that go into the rockets and their fuel, refine and smelt the

materials, fabricate and assemble everything from the nose-cone to the launch pad, design,

build, and test the fuel tanks, the computers, the food packs, and the space-suit helmets and

boots, write the procedures to organize the thousands of other people who work together

during the mission ... and the people who implement the procedures ... and the people who

spend the months and years after the mission analyzing the data and the samples that it returns.

Not a penny leaves the earth. The money goes to people, who use it to buy stuff, including the

cars they use to drive to work, the gas that makes the cars run, and the lunches they bring to work

with them. Many of them also spend it on things like TV sets, clothing, movies, house payments,

vacations, lawn mowers, and putting their kids through college. Notice that these purchases are

very similar to purchases made by people who aren't connected with space exploration in any way.

The only difference is that until now, all that money has come from taxpayers and been funneled

by the government, right back into the national economy, just like any other government program.

The money doesn't get shot into space.