just read NASA projects a $600 milion dollar over run in the budget for this monster, which keeps growing, and must be maintained, and supplied by shuttle, for who knows how long. just what are we , the tax payers getting in return for this expensive playtoy. oh I'm sure some Iowa farmer needs to know how corn grows in zero gravity, or if flys can get it on in mid air with out gravity .
of which of all these valuable experiments have we seen the results.
and dont be fooled by the "international" tag we know who is paying the vast majority of the cost.
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Thank God I'm a country boy-John Denver
Thank God for a backup comp. Alondra
Remember the monsterous flap when that wealthy American bought his way onto the station?! I had a big laugh when I heard that NASA was so stumped as to a reply to the Russians selling a spot for $20 mil! Here we have a 60 year old dude with "bucks" doing every bit as well as professional astronaunts, who train year in and year out, to the tune of millions of dollars. It seemed to me that it was just another case of the Emperor having no clothes! I'm going down to Florida and seeing the liftoff on March 1st. I have this feeling that it won't be long before they close the whole program down for lack of funds.
Be happy that this $600 million of your tax money was not spent on military aid so that some nations somewhere can continue blowing up families and kids.
There is a hell of a lot more benefit to mankind in learning how to fly live in space then investing in social welfare. It may not appear so at the moment while we are merely crawling not walking.
The only problem I have with the space station is it seems to be below our technology limits and hence is not pushing tech. I would love to see the advancement of space station tech. Make a wheel like a small DS9 and put some spin on it simulate gravity for truely long term missions. You could still keep your low grav experiments in the center.
The benefits of wetting our feet in space could perhaps ensure the species and could potentially yield new technology to help the existing earth. They have done experiments with inductive tethers using movement through earths magnetic field which thousands of volts of energy. We are whithin reach of mars. Potential new home for us. maybe not quite as nice as home but could mean the continuation of our species given a disaster. There are millions of reasons that seem far fetched and unabtainable right now but none the less exist. the only way to find them is through experimentation.
I won't go into the improved response times if traveling to an asteroid on collision course with earth.
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