2005 Defense Budget = $429B. 2005 NASA Budget = $16B.

[OrlandoGator]

Maybe if we actually seriously committed ourselves to space exploration instead of giving NASA a shoestring budget, they could figure out ways to make insulation stick to fuel tanks.

Just sayin'.

[Maple]

1. Good point

There is always money for war, rarely any for the pursuit of knowledge

[SlipperySlope]

2. What about Social Security?

Don't we spend $500B a year there?

[wli]

3. doing the things people "dream about" NASA doing needs trillions

The fact is, people know there's nowhere useful to go out there, and aren't taking it seriously beyond minimalistic hope for spinoff technology and parking military satellites in orbit.

[punpirate]

4. I think that's it...

... most people won't know that it's happening, but all the talk about moon bases and Mars is cover for spending more money on the military. The same sort of throw-weight necessary for those ambitions is the same sort necessary for the Air Force's Vision 2020 program. Big satellites and big weapons will need big, big rockets.

Cheers.

[sintax]

5. Money for the needy-Let's stop blowing holes in the ozone

Let's start looking to take care of things here on Earth.

A look into the amount of energy and pollution that comes from one space flight can certainly give pause.

[Emperor_Norton_II]

6. Yes, because stopping spaceflight will immediately feed the poor.

:eyes:

[sintax]

7. Another money sink and distraction and earth destroying

activity by those in thrall to techno-fantasies of 'Space the final frontier'.

It reminds me of the abusive father who keeps buying gadgets while his children go neglected and underfed.

The Disease of Modernism-There is this blind faith in technology, inordinate attachment to material gadgets and conveniences, uncritical acceptance of the march of scientific progress, devotion to the electronic media, and a lifestyle dictated by the technological imperative. Everything it touches is literalized.

[Emperor_Norton_II]

8. There's an irony here

Castigating the horrors of "modernism" while on the Internet. Your AOL account isn't feeding the poor, you know.

[sintax]

11. You are right

But I do adhere to limitations.

A life of intentional poverty and limited use of technologies.

Peace

[Skwmom]

9. Does the 429B include the supplementals for Iraq?

[OrlandoGator]

10. Nope, just what was budgeted for FY05.

n/t