Mars Landing, 8-6-2012, 1:30AM EST

" how many mouths can 2.5 billion dollars feed?
How much would our taxes be less ?"

NO, YOUR REAL QUESTION SHOULD BE HOW MANY OF THESE MOUTHS SHOULD BE WORKING AND FEEDING THEMSELVES. OTHER THAN THE MILITARY, WHEN DID IT BECOME GOVERNMENTS JOB TO FEED ANYONE?? Then the taxes would be less, as there would be more tax payers.

In addition to the thousands of technological innovations spurred by the space program NASA gave this country a glimpse of the future and a vision to rally around. Some of the narrow minded posters are probably too young to remember the achievements of the 1960s and 1970s but it inspired the entire country.

Not like we need any inspiration now though eh? I watched last night as Curiosity touched down and though it wasnt the exciting event I remember from the moon landings it was still something I am glad BFF reminded me of and that I stayed up to watch.

Besides, as the picture shows, we now know that there are in fact Martians and that is an exciting discovery!

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It's not the space program that all the money is wasted on, it's the military industrial war machine. If you want to complain about money being wasted there's your bogeyman.

The msm has been ramping up it's coverage of what's going on in Syria recently to build public sympathy, anyone want to guess how long before we're involved there?

I even heard they invented the radio!! Possibly the electric light too.

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2Ti 1:7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
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"it's the military industrial war machine. If you want to complain about money being wasted there's your bogeyman."

No I rather think it is welfare beyond a basic number of weeks while either finding a new job or getting education to find a new job. It's the bailouts of companies that should have been let fail, it's the choosing of Solyndra, etc to pay back Obama's cronies. Sorry - The Military is the one thing the Constitution says the Feds MUST DO. The other stuff belongs to the states and to the churches and the people.

That said, we should bring our Military home except for a SMALL handful of bases necessary to support the military IF we ever have to go to a true war again. Going nation building in the rat holes of the Mid-East is not what we should be doing with our young men's lives. We have enough energy of our own to live comfortably. We should use it and take the $$ saved and do some real experimentation to find a true, industrial sized alternative to fossil fuels - wind isn't it, and solar isn't either unless they can truly figure out batteries. As far as being the world's Bread Basket - MAYBE, but the rest of the world would surely pay the going rate for it. Maybe if the rest of the world controlled their breeding of more humans, they wouldn't be so poor and need so many handouts.

Here at home when you separate the number of babies a welfare mom can get $$ for (like zero)from the amount of $$ she can get, the desire to reproduce like rats will drop to a manageable level.

Watched it just like I watched the previous landings. Loved it!

All you poor mouthed Luddites can go soak your head. Of course you don't have to worry about too many more of these events because Obama is busily destroying NASA just like the Democrats destroyed the super conducting super collider when it was 95% finished.

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2Ti 1:7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Luceo non uro

I knew the answer. I also knew how the fish would jump.

The Aerospace industry accounts for 1 in 7 jobs in the US and accounts for about 900 billion dollars in sales. That implicates a lot of taxes. Deep thinking would have revealed better uses for the resources including where the economic and employment resources were used. But that is for another thread.

I didn't realize it was Nobel Peace Prize Season again for Barack. I'd have made a cake or something.

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Never, and in the trash.
Are you an AZ farmer too? Arizona Backyard Farmers on facebook

I think you are still making my point... constant war for whatever the current stated reason is extremely wasteful. The military industrial complex has become the beast that must be fed.

That's all a matter of opinion.
No "deep thinking" is needed to see that.
We could have spent 2 billion feeding hungry kids a couple of meals, and tomorrow they would be hungry again.

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And could have TAUGHT kids how to make and feed themselves and they would never go hungry

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Less barking! More wagging!

Are you talking about children in the USA or are you talking about children all over the world?

So you are for teaching little kids how to go to work to make money to buy food so they can make it and feed themselves? I think we had that back in the 1800's- early 1900's and not too many people liked it then either.

How else are you going to teach a 5 year old to make and feed themselves, without giving them the food?

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Geeze guys, get a grip. Read the question and think about the answer.
I am not talking about child labor.
THE POINT IS - Teach - Just like the adage "Give a fish" or "teach to fish."

There are more important things to do than waste money trying to find life that does not exist. Even if it did, we need to take care of Earth first. We know more about space than the bottom of the oceans. What about the big Garbage patches in the Oceans killing all forms of sea life? The tsunami debris? Or even the space debris?
Here is a sample

btw - I knew more at age five about harvesting and natural foods than children now because my parents taught me. Teach! This forum is all about sustainability and non government intrusion but that seems to be the thought to use to pick on others comments. Every one says "buy local" but then talk about how the aerospace industry has supported the transport of farmers goods. Education and medicine seem to make more sense than chasing pie in the sky.

I am all for teaching people what they need to know, unfortunately after having paid taxes for most of my life into the public school system, I do not feel that I get a good return on my investment for the most part.

As far as medicine, much of the advances in medicine have come as a result of the space program, to-wit:


Cataract detection

Space Goggles use dynamic light scattering to detect cataracts, radiation damage, diabetes, eye inflammation, cholesterol levels, Alzheimer's, and environmental toxicity. The goggles use corneal autofluorescence, laser Doppler velocimetry, Raman spectroscopy, and polarimetry to detect diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and blood glucose (sugar) levels. Reflectometry, oximetry, optical coherence tomography, and a scanning laser ophthalmoscope may be added later. Tests can be done quickly, remotely, without discomfort, and in real time.

Also:

Seasoned Space Vets Continue To Make Medical Breakthroughs
hese enterprising space veterans from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, are now helping doctors and patients with expertise forged in the world of space technology.
The group has been responsible for a number of medical advancements, including:
* Preliminary design of an automated oxygen enrichment system for premature babies. Working with Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center, retired volunteers and doctors are working to remove the inaccuracies of manually controlled oxygen systems, which can affect the infant's eyesight, brain and lung development.
* Solving a blood clot problem found with a stent that could cause heart attacks. Retired professional volunteers introduced a special electropolishing process to provide a super-smooth stent surface. The electropolishing process, developed in the aerospace industry, is not well known by doctors. The resulting electropolished stent practically eliminated further blood clot formation with the device.

How space exploration has impacted our health - CNN.com

Devices such as the infrared thermometer, dialysis pumps, and the VAD heart pump were also invented as spin offs of the space technology.

There have been so many wonderful medical advances due to the research into space technology. Many people here on this forum would not be here if some of these technologies weren't available. I am sure that those that need these advanced treatment options would never complain that we spend too much money on space research.

There may or may not be life out there in space, but the advances made while learning pay back one hundred fold to world civilization. Ideas explored in one field can have great benefits in other fields.

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Be yourself - no one can tell you that you're doing it wrong!

We can do that WITHOUT spending any extra money.
It's called "school"

NASA employees can buy local too. You made the assumption about "transported"
You act like the money accomplished nothing at all, and use emotional rhetoric to support it, while overlooking all the FACTS

I'd imagine MANY things are "transported" to Hawaii, when that money could be feeding kids in Africa.

Is that money "wasted" too?

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I'm all for the space programs but let the private sector pay for it. Those multi-millionaires can do it better, faster and cheaper when there is the possibility of big return on their investment.