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old hand
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> Our lives would be so much better now had our ancestors just learned to accept their lot in life.
LOL! Classic:-)
etaoin, I din't mean that we should let everything drop in space travel and fall into perpetual meditation. I'm just very sceptical of the use of manned space exploration at this point. It's very expensive and the return is low. Of all the space projects - all of the most scientifically astounding have been unmanned - e.g. the Hubble Telescope. No doubt the trip to the moon (if we truly have been there;-) was a great achievement, but they didn't really find out anything amazing about our little friend except that it's possible to land on it.
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Carpal Tunnel
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> enough to warrant a mention in Q&A!
such as maybe deluxe?
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Carpal Tunnel
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I would agree that the material return is low, but it's more the societal return that I'm interested in. we need vision in these troubled times(when aren't they troubled?  ). something to believe in... I also agree about the Hubble. let's put a bigger one on the Moon...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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> all of the most scientifically astounding have been unmanned - e.g. the Hubble Telescope
yeahbut®
the Hubble would no longer be operational without the Shuttle AA van having effected roadside repairs...
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Carpal Tunnel
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...manned space exploration at this point. It's very expensive and the return is low.
Oh, but by., success isn't necessarily measured just by finding out about other celestial bodies. The whole point of space exploration is for us to, well, explore--with an eye towards expanding off our home planet. (Aside--seems to be a human trait, to want to spread out.) So we might as well find out along the way how, for ex., human bodies fare in space, and how to make them more comfortable while there. Besides that, there's the...psychological factor. It is SO much more attention-getting to say, "We landed a man on the moon!", than, "We sent a lunar probe". And besides THAT, my Dear, just think of the excitement, the romance, the adventure!
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addict
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No doubt the trip to the moon was a great achievement, but they didn't really find out anything amazing about our little friend except that it's possible to land on it.
I would rather see a thousand frivolous manned moon landings than see the same amount of money needed to send them there spent on weapons of war and destruction. The joy of achievement over adversity is always preferable to sorrow caused by the cruelty of the human race.
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Carpal Tunnel
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psychological factor
Spot on, Jackie - personally I think that image of 'earthrise' seen from the moon was a formative experience for many millions now alive. To see our own planet dwarfed yet so beautiful, rising over another planetry horizon for the first time in mankind's experience... well, I doubt if the whole Gaia and Green movement would have had a chance without it.
And I completely agree with your sentiments Rubrick; indeed, I'd rather see $10 billion 'wasted' on such apparently futile projects than $100 spent on yet another nuclear dustbin on our coastlines here on earth.
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veteran
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personally I think that image of 'earthrise' seen from the moon was a formative experience for many millions now aliveI agree completely, mav. And here's a link to that picture in "original" sideways-on angle: http://www.abc.net.au/science/moon/earthrise.htmI've provided this link elsewhere, but hey - who cares?? 
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did not the rush to rocketry yield us kevlarYeah, and Velcro? And I strongly suspect (though am unsure about the facts here and have been bitten a few times recently on that front [rueful smile]) that the development of miniaturised components and space-saving  devices must have been given a substantial fillip by the Space Program.
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old hand
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>>did not the rush to rocketry yield us kevlar
>[shona]Yeah, and Velcro?
Bean, I want to be the first to tell you that you're most emphatically not chopped liver.
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