Hey guys and gals, I was reading about the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavor on Tuesday and was wondering how you feel about the time, energy and resources spent on the program. Is the space program giving us much in return or is it just for the military and the “scientific” world to use as a boasting point. Where are the possibilities going and what can be done in the future? Are the “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” movies really possible or is that way out there?
Space Program: Important or a waste?
March 9, 2008 · 26 Comments
Categories: AP Chem 2008 · Chemistry 3rd · Chemistry 4th
26 responses so far ↓
jcombs // March 9, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Space research and engineering is creditable spending of governmental funds to a point, but I think the citizens, in general, are more concerned about issues like social security, poverty, education, health insurance, etc.
I feel that much of the spending for NASA is wasteful. Nothing can be done except to gain more knowledge about the realm of what lies within and beyond Earth’s atmosphere. What is getting accomplished?
papillondeciel // March 9, 2008 at 9:14 pm
i think the space program is very good. it could find many useful things, black holes, possible oil resevoirs, maybe water. i agree with jcombs saying that we have bigger problems to deal with right now, but it will benefit us greatly in the future when we run out of natural resources.
brandonbogan13 // March 10, 2008 at 11:08 am
I believe that the program does not really benefit use greatly, but it does help us with several things. The major thing that it helps us do is find locations. With the GPS system we can pinpoint our position on Earth, accurate to about 3 meters. Besides the GPS Satelittes that are in space now, I do not think that anything else that they have sent into space helps us. Knowing whether or not there are signs of life on other planets just seems pretty useless because no other planet meets conditions for humans to live on. In conclusion the space program does benefit us, but it also takes away funding from other programs.
prancingunicorn // March 10, 2008 at 11:14 am
i find the program to be very benefitting. At this moment it might not seem to help as much but one day it could benefit us greatly. For example, what if they find a new source to power cars or a way to stop things like “global warming” but these discoveries cannot be found overnight. look at thing like sattilites these are benefitting us in todays time. Also we dont know very much about space and learning about something that most people know nothing about intrigues many people. so overall i think the space program to be very beneficial.
prancingunicorn // March 10, 2008 at 11:16 am
i find the program to be very benefitting. At this moment it might not seem to help as much but one day it could benefit us greatly. For example, what if they find a new source to power cars or a way to stop things like “global warming” but these discoveries cannot be found overnight. look at thing like sattilites these are benefitting us in todays time. Also we dont know very much about space and learning about something that most people know nothing about intrigues many people. so overall i think the space program to be very beneficial.
boner13 // March 10, 2008 at 12:54 pm
i think that the government should spend more money on the research of space flight.
andrewsmith11 // March 10, 2008 at 1:01 pm
i dont believe that what we are doing is necessary. even if we are able to collect research about other places than earth, the chances of us being able to live there arent very good. so basically we are spending money for information, not new habitats.
emasonnn // March 10, 2008 at 1:36 pm
i believe that the space program isnt a must for our country. it wastes to much time and energy to build the rockets and stuff when we should be concentrating on other things, i think the only thing that we would need the space program for would be to launch satilites and to shoot down satilites or meteors if they fall out of orbit and are falling to earth.
brandthart08 // March 10, 2008 at 4:50 pm
yeah but what about independance day? I mean we all saw what happened. And eventually Will Smith isnt gonna be there to save us.. UP THE FUNDING!
clarinetnumba1 // March 10, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I definitely agree that we have bigger fish to fry right now, but we also could discover different resources through the space program. If we could find these resources we could use them to our advantage. But I do believe that here and now is the most important. As far as Star Wars being realistic, I saw a program saying that much of it was derived from the Roman Empire vs. the World during the early AD years. Technology could get that advanced at some point but not in my lifetime I don’t think…
mattman87 // March 11, 2008 at 7:51 pm
I think that for the human race to survive that there must be a space program. What’s to say that Earth will be here forever? It is said that we will run out of resources within the next 100 years if something isn’t done about it. Where will we go from Earth? The closest habitable place is the moon, but the technological and money required to build a colony on the moons surface and provide oxygen throughout the facility would most likely be too much. Star Trek and Star Wars are a little far fetched, but using rockets and thrusters it would be possible to have “similar” ships to those in the movies.
madsci3ntist // March 12, 2008 at 6:58 am
Well, I think that Brandt has a point with the “other race coming to kill us thing”, and we are pumping billions into the space program, and unless they aren’t telling us, it doesn’t seem like they are making any advancements, except for that mars probe that can think for itself, that was kind of cool.
brandthart08 // March 12, 2008 at 7:39 pm
something that would be cool though you have to think about all those other stars we see at night, many of them are like the sun and that makes it possible that their might be planets orbiting those stars such as ours that contain life…even in small unevolved forms like matt and christian taylor. but seriously every star out there is a chance that something is orbiting it that contains life. we need to send sean connery in red october to investigate further…the mission is underway
brandthart08 // March 12, 2008 at 7:40 pm
whose frying fish anyway?
clarinetnumba1 // March 12, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I am…
cheeze1 // March 13, 2008 at 8:48 pm
me think tat da spacy progem is far far out. it no need to be terr. it usless. no such thaing as space warrs. yeaaaaaaaa
Anonymous // March 14, 2008 at 8:33 am
i think the space program is good but ive always wondered why we dont try to explore the rest of this planet before we go out in space i mean weve got tons of unexplored depths in the ocean and who knows what could be down there. i think we should focus our money and efforts on the earth before we go out into space
hazeleyedniki // March 14, 2008 at 11:29 am
i believe that the space programs are not a waste of time and resources.
yes they consume many materials to accomplish such a goal but we are getting much information back from these projects. and even though it doesn’t effect my life personally i think its helping human society and our teaching us so that we can better educate others of subjects that otherwise we cant experience, such as space. the NASA does spend tons of millions of dollars but i mean if they have the money why not spend it, that doesnt effect me to what they spend our taxes on, they are going to no matter what i think. but the NASA also provides many jobs for engineers and technicians so they would argue also if people tried to take away their source of income but taking away the space program.
Robert W. Gilreath of http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20080307/NEWS/764906920/1014/NEWS/Space_program_a_waste_of_money
has a different prospective but thats his idea and since he chooses to take no action and just write an internet paper it applies to no one and well never help his cause of being against the space program.
So in all as longs we still have the materials and money to do so, let the people of NASA have their fun and find new information.
oopplesnvronos // March 14, 2008 at 4:10 pm
I think that researching on what’s out there and how it works is a good thing. We should know our surroundings, even if they are light years away. Knowledge is over all good.
A lot of people have mentioned that there are problems we need to deal with here on Earth right now instead of going off into space. While there are things we need to focus on, that doesn’t mean we have to put a stop to all research.
But to expect to have like “Star Wars” stuff going on, I think, is a bit ridiculous. I believe it’s called Science Fiction for a reason.
moni09 // March 16, 2008 at 8:47 am
I kind of think that the space program is usless. We will probably never have life in space either, at least not in many of our life times. Instead of wasting money on something that we are not getting many answers from we should spend our money on more important stuff such as global warming.
NKSCF // March 16, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I believe that Stephen Hawking once said that we were nowhere close to getting anywhere as near as a Star Trek warp drive, anytime soon. Personally, I think the majority of the space program is a total waste and should be used for other resources. Take your cliched pick: Medicare, environment, Social Security, etc.
Although the idea of colonizing other worlds through space travel appeals to the sci-fi buff inside me, the actual cost of doing so would utterly bankrupt the US in a couple of years.
Ideas such as the International Space Station being used for world peace don’t really appeal to me either. It, like most of the space program is a waste of time and money. (I think Tom Clancy’s Endwar has the greatest way of getting rid of the ISS.)
However, the space program has allowed for new technologies to be developed and we have learned a little more about how small we are in the universe. So I say we keep the Hubble and leave it at that.
williamunseen // March 17, 2008 at 11:20 am
I think that space research is very interesting, but does it really help better anybody’s life? I would much rather see government money being put towards ending the war (any of them) or doing something about the numerous domestic problems that we are sure to encounter in the future. I don’t feel that with the technology available to us now that there is going to be a tangible result to space research, and until further technology is developed, we should not divert our money to further trips to the moon or things of that matter but rather things that can have a more real result.
boner9 // March 18, 2008 at 8:57 am
for all of the people that say we dont need the space program i only have one thing to say. as americans we need the space program end of story. without it you wouldnt have your tv your radios your gps and sometimes your internet. many things that we think are basic to society today are run or broadcast from sattelites. they also help us with the weather. and also brandts right. what are we gonna do when the big meteor comes for us? Bruce willis is about to bite the dust and ben affleck is a director now.
xstephi92x // March 18, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Honestly i think that we need it, but not to the extent that its going. Peronsally i think that in my life time and my peers we wont see space travel. And if we do MOST people wont be able to afford it!!! The space program needs to stop worrying about finding life forms and worry about whats happening here on their Home planet. And think about it, if something is ment to happen to the Earth (sun die’s metors ect.) then it will, and No scientist can stop it. It will be our time to die. And haha funny, actors who really dont know anything helping us, how far fetched…
I think the space program is necassary for our communication purposes though. Its just they need to put more thought into that instead of something they might never find. We have conflicts here we need to worry about more then life forms that may or may not be there.
In conclusion i think the spending should be cut some, but not so much to hurt the communtication of the world.
Stroudle // May 16, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I lost my website, can y’all help me find it???????
Madscientist // August 9, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Hey Mr. Aceman, Just wondering if your going to check this anymore since you are leaving the school and all. We’ll Miss you.