Science may well give us good things. We all know velcro came from NASA. But why bother spending all this money exploring space and finding out there was water on Mars at some point in the last few thousand years (we have water in Earth) when these same great minds could be applied to finding better ways to power humanity's insatiable desire for energy, to feeding the starving millions around the globe, and generally making life down here better before looking up into the heavens.

The needs of humanity should always come first. While there are people on Earth who need help, they should be helped, rather than seeing money spent on sending robots onto other planets.

Also why take so much time and money to learn about Mars or any other planet, when we know so little about our own? We should learn more about Earth and the ocean before wasting time and money on Space exploration.

Space Exploration epitimizes the spirit of humanities insatiable appetite to explore that which is beyond our reach. Explortion of the unknown has lead to new civilaztions, new ways of life, and world unity. We cannot help but to explore new worlds regardless of how far away they are.

Now , the reason why money is not wasted in the space program is becuase all the development that comes out of NASA leads to a direct benefit in our everyday lives. They have become quite proficient. Most of the public has little concern over NASA's achievements, which do not command much media coverage until something goes wrong. However, every day we use products that were developed for space programs, such at CAT scan machines, hi-res digital photography, mylar survival blankets, GPS, internet access, ect. The list can go on and on. NASA spends the time and money to develop these products for use in space, but usually there are many civilian applications for the same products. Production of these product leads to redevelopment, sales and distribution - all of which leads to more jobs; somebody has to build, sell, and repair.

One last point, we know that Russia and China have both put men in space and now even more countries are getting involved. Obviously we have seen the power of Google Maps (and that is only at the civilian level). Imagine now, that other powerful countries have satellites to spy on us and can position weapons directly above our country, dont you think it would be a good idea to be abloe to stave that off. If we decided to stop "wasting" money on space programs, we can say goodbye to many new developments that will be out of reach of garage scientist and we can expect to be overwhelmed with visitors in the skies above the US.

Did you know that to build a space elevator (a space-platform constructed with the intent of lifting substances into Earth's orbit) would only cost $40 billion with 100% contingency, and half that for the baseline construction cost? There are endless possibilities, ranging from solar energy farms to revolutionary and cheap intercontinental transportation. Imagine a solar farm, capable of harvesting the solar winds; this translates to an unlimited supply of energy for not just the United States, but the entire world! The human race is changing, and expanding. Soon, the Earth will simply not be big enough and we need to start considering our future as a species.

There are issues that do plague us as a race. There is poverty and injustice in the world. While these issues exist and should certainly not be ignored, the funds put forth to space exploration have a quantifiable impact and are no less of a priority. These problems will likely not be solved by the evolution of invention and space exploration alone, but as technology improves so will the lives of every man, woman, and child regardless of gender, skin color, or wealth. Space exploration needs focus and funding, it is representative of our future, and will secure it. Space exploration is arguably the single-most important investment we could possibly make.

There have been no direct benefits from space travel; the only 'good things' to come from it are indirect, and not the end aims. NASA weren't aiming for velcro, but the moon. We got velcro, the moon gave us nothing except some pretty pictures of the planet below. Scientists and inventors could give us the same by-products for a lot less cost if the associated space exploration was removed from the equation.

All the by-products of the space race could have been developed by commercial companies aiming to make a profit by developing good products and selling them, at a fraction of the cost: the Post-it note is possibly as useful as velcro, but was developed by 3M at a fraction of the cost.

Furthermore, a lot of the 'advances' space exploration bring us is irrelevant to daily life: why bother spending money developing a pen that works in zero-gravity when a) a pencil will do and b) the vast majority of the world's 6 billion people will never experience zero gravity?

However indirect they might be, the advances would not have come were it not for the space programmes of NASA, as there would have been no technological need. Space exploration gave impetus to projects that have been useful, as well as providing valuable scientific knowledge. For example, the laser-targetting of mirrors left on the moon by Apollo astronauts helps test and understand basic physics, which in turn leads to advances in very earthly things like electronics, hyper-conductivity, etc.

Space exploration has always been a gimmick. The USA was doing it only to look better than the USSR and vice versa; it has never really been about the science. There are far more valuable scientific endeavours to fund, such as the exploration of our own planet. The seabed, especially around volcanic regions, is relatively unexplored, as is Antarctica. One recent news story about a ‘lost tribe’ also highlighted the fact that we are not in contact with all indigenous peoples across the planet. The scientific knowledge obtainable from our own planet, particularly organisms that inhabit locations with extreme conditions, offers far more value than that of space.

Potential organisms to be found in space (such as on Mars) offer exactly the same value to the scientific community, and perhaps more, as the conditions would be far more extreme than those found on the Earth.

Even if space exploration was a good target of funding in the past, it is now a growing target of venture capital and private ingenuity. For example, SpaceX's reusable rocket that is expected to reduce launch costs for commercial satelites, Bigelow Aerospace's investment in space tourism, and Virgin Galactic's expected space-faring plane, among others.

Now that private companies are intending to supply space access on the cheap, it is useless to spend all that money on expensive platforms such as the space shuttle.

the corporations will move in whenever they see opportunity for solid profit, but it is always science, and often government funded research, that finds those opportunities in the first place.

for example you mention satellites which are an integral part of the global communications industry, which in itself would not exist without first having the invention of telephone wires, radio waves, etc., all which have led up to space satellites.

as for the prospects of space tourism again that is simply a result of the fact that governments have funded space research for all these years and finally it is getting to a point where it's cheap enough and safe enough to send paying citizens up there.

corporations will not do anything that doesn't guarantee profit so will they investigate whether there is water on the moon? whether it is possible in the future to colonize it? no. it's too much of a risk so the government has to pay for it.

there are two major crisis going on at your home planet. global warming and the world wild economic crisis, both are severe. if the government doesnt handle the economic crisis with care we all will end up poor. how can we feed the poor,fend for our selves and take care of really expensive space travels?

space travel is a unwanted business for now. how many of you'll know that nasa lost count of there budget after the first billlions of dollar after the first year? is this more iportant than caring for the needy? when so mny people are dieng as we speak can we just neglect them and say "the money we just spend went for a good cause, and these few hundreds of people who died are nothing because if we dont find a nother planet to escape the clutures of global warming we all will die" is that fair for them?i say no and what will you say?

Global warming is the second most severe issue the earth is going through. we have to take care of our planet before we go roaming other planets. if the great legendary tribes of yesterday were here to see all this they would not belive that long time ago there used to be pure air to breath e and man and animal lived side by side.now everything is destroyed. if we take care of this problem with with care we would be able to overcome this disaster.

what if the space shuttle lauch and then fall?then what?the govnerment is going to have to pay more money for that.plus they might get sude.our govnerment is dumb for going along with this.

Our goal here is to create a balance, not to give up one option for another.

It's sickening to see all of these people going on and on about "saving the starving and impoverished". Well then sell your computer. Stop commenting on here, go dedicate your life to helping the "starving and needy". And how many tons of rice and grain do we need to keep dropping on these countries before they get their act together and FEED THEMSELVES. I know it sounds heartless, but it's their fault. I don't care if they don't have money. Man lived for thousands of years off of the land and many (dumb) animals still manage to pull it off. Why do we have to send some christian missionaries over to dig them a well? Why can't they dig their own well? Why can't they plant their own grain? Why can't they hunt their own game or raise their own livestock? Why can't they move OUT of the areas of drought? Why is it OUR problem? You feel guilty because you live better? We shouldn't help people that will not help themselves. And something is going to happen and we will ALL be dead or starving on this planet because we refused to move on and advance the survival of our species; all pissed away on supporting some people that would probably just as soon let us starve if we were the ones without food and they were the rich ones.

Most humanitarian organizations simply give poor countries money to fend for their sick and hungry when they can instead teach them how to plant crops that survive in their harsh conditions and educate people who are illiterate and turn them into doctors or farmers. When money is just thrown at their feet, what will happen if the money runs out? When they send people to give them prepared food and medication, what will happen when they leave? Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.

Imagine you own a house that you have ruined over the years and never bothered to fix any of the integral parts of it, like the hole in the roof, the foundation, running water, garden, and it has become unsanitary, you need 1 Million dollars to fix it up. Instead you plan to abandon this house since you don't like the neighbourhood anyways, and you want to buy yourself a new one. You're really picky and won't settle for anything less then a perfect new home, no matter the cost. You hire a Realestate agent, his fee to search for your dream home is $1 Billion Dollars, and the potential new home you're looking in that perfect neighbourhood will cost you more then 100 Trillion dollars. You're conviced to go with the latter option, cause you're under the immpression that some really interesting girls live there, but you're agent has yet to confirm anything of this information. His search still continues....

The argument that humanity will need to find a new habitat to survive is a stretch and paranoid. Humans are already dying due to poverty and the lack of food etc. The millions of dollars of government funding that goes to space exploration could instead be used to save the humans who are already dying in our world. No-one is going to argue against the value of knowledge but there is a greater value in spending more on food supplies which has a certain result of feeding the hungry, whereas certain results are not present in the theory of discovering a sustainable planet.

Knowledge is invaluable. Furthering our understanding of how the universe came into being, and ultimately how we came into being, cannot be measured as useful solely in terms of cost. What price to pay for knowing that in the future, humanity can be saved because there are other planets out there capable of sustaining life? Scientific knowledge has intrinsic worth. Space exploration is just one aspect of science that seems to have little impact on our daily lives. Who cares if the Higgs-Boson exists? Very few people. But governments have funded a new particle collider at CERN to find it because they recognise the importance of finding it to understanding the universe.

It's sickening to see all of these people going on and on about "saving the starving and impoverished". Well then sell your computer. Stop commenting on here, go dedicate your life to helping the "starving and needy". And how many tons of rice and grain do we need to keep dropping on these countries before they get their act together and FEED THEMSELVES. I know it sounds heartless, but it's their fault. I don't care if they don't have money. Man lived for thousands of years off of the land and many (dumb) animals still manage to pull it off. Why do we have to send some christian missionaries over to dig them a well? Why can't they dig their own well? Why can't they plant their own grain? Why can't they hunt their own game or raise their own livestock? Why can't they move OUT of the areas of drought? Why is it OUR problem? You feel guilty because you live better? We shouldn't help people that will not help themselves. And something is going to happen and we will ALL be dead or starving on this planet because we refused to move on and advance the survival of our species; all pissed away on supporting some people that would probably just as soon let us starve if we were the ones without food and they were the rich ones.

Although the cost is not high relative to other government expenditure, it is still an additional cost that the taxpayer is burdened with. If this debate is saying that space exploration is pointless then it means spending money on nothing so is definitely a waste. Even if it's a small amount it is still an amount that could be spent elsewhere.Everyday in Delhi B.P.S buses are are getting blasted due to the default in the engeenering.So we shouldspend money on it not for the space exploration.We should spend money on the coton bags and jute bags.We should spend money on Afforestation .We live on the earth so I request everyone to spend money on the Earth not on space

Compared to other areas of government spending (e.g. military), the cost of space exploration simply isn't ridiculously high. There have been space vehicles built in the private sector for as little as $25m, a drop in the ocean compared to US spending in Iraq, and the net benefits outweigh even these figures.

Indeed it is our nature to explore our environment - but that environment is not zero-gravity, extremes (and not the bearable extremes we experience on earth) of temperatures and terrain.

Indeed, there is still a substantial area of our own planet we have yet to fully explore. Why rush off to space when we've not seen all of our own planet yet?

If people had just stayed in their own locations they would find ways to become highly advanced in regards to those locations. lIkely, it wold get to the point that if they tried exploration they would be able to benefit most anyone that happened upon their civilization, and vice versa. Think about it as you would from ancient events in Eurasia. The the chinese were only able to help Europe so well because they were isolated from them for so long, even though it did really only lead to much conflict and war, but that was only because of the Europeans greed.

Without the urge to ‘see what’s out there’ the continents would still be populated by the indigenous races. North Americans would all be Native Americans, Africans would all be black, and Australia would have only Aborigines and kangaroos. Let’s take this argument to its extremities: Suppose no one had ever wondered if there was another little village somewhere in the world. Then every group of civilised people would have to grow in their own shell of ignorance. The printing press would have remained in Germany unless some other nation happened to stumble on the same process. The same would apply to…well, the list is just too long and life is too short.

Although these discoveries have been made, do you really think that velcro and non-stick pans are more important than feeding the starving, solving the current economic crisis or dealing with the environmental issues? Though these inventions may be useful, we can survive without them. A normal pan still cooks your meals, buttons and zips can do up your jumpers or clothes. These items are simply a luxury we cannot afford and we do not need them. The thousands of starving people cannot survive without food so why spend money on products which we do not need.

Many discoveries and products have been developed from the knowledge gained from space exploration. For example, NASA created Velcro which is now used in many clothing items, bags and so forth. Non-stick pans and surfaces were also created as a result of space exploration. Now we can cook without worrying whether or not our cakes will stick to the sides of our pans. Overall, space exploration has provided us with new knowledge and as a result of this, many new and intriguing inventions have been made.

It's sickening to see all of these people going on and on about "saving the starving and impoverished". Well then sell your computer. Stop commenting on here, go dedicate your life to helping the "starving and needy". And how many tons of rice and grain do we need to keep dropping on these countries before they get their act together and FEED THEMSELVES. I know it sounds heartless, but it's their fault. I don't care if they don't have money. Man lived for thousands of years off of the land and many (dumb) animals still manage to pull it off. Why do we have to send some christian missionaries over to dig them a well? Why can't they dig their own well? Why can't they plant their own grain? Why can't they hunt their own game or raise their own livestock? Why can't they move OUT of the areas of drought? Why is it OUR problem? You feel guilty because you live better? We shouldn't help people that will not help themselves. And something is going to happen and we will ALL be dead or starving on this planet because we refused to move on and advance the survival of our species; all pissed away on supporting some people that would probably just as soon let us starve if we were the ones without food and they were the rich ones.

If space was not meant for us to cross,why should we take risk into crossing it? We are very comfortable in our own world. We still have resources not discovered on Earth yet. So why should we throw money down the drain just to take a meaningless risk?? For example, the space shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986,resulting in the death of all seven crew members, thus proving that going into space is a hazardous risk.

No one has ever said that space was not meant for us to cross, who is to say that the oceans were meant for us to cross into America? How many men died crossing the ocean to the Americas and other contintents? Much more then seven I can bet you, but I am not saying their death was pointless and for waste. They knew the risks, and they took it for the sake of knowledge. It is also not meaningless, how is it meaningless? Many many many technologies have come out of it. (See The Largest Benefits)

Space travel has given us a lot of new things for example the micro chip, the CAT scan and so on. You might say that we could just put together a group of scientist to figure it out, but and idea has to come from something, and they wouldn't just make a CAT scan if someone told to to make something to scan a brain, and even if they would, it would take a lot more time. Also, space travel could benefit our future, if we ended up making settlements on the moon or mars, we might be able to mine there and get rare minerals, or a huge supply of a mineral, boosting economy. Think of America, if someone had put a stop to earth's exploration due to poverty, we wouldn't have one economically strong country(USA) to help the poor.

Read those and tell me space exploration is a waste of time and money. It may have taken peoples lives, but it has given back more lives then taken. We may not get any short term benefits, but the long term ones could be better than any other short term benefits out there. It may take a lot of money, but I think i rather spend my taxes on space exploration then welfare families. Don't say we have no direct benefits form it because we do. If we didn't have it you, me, or any other person probably wouldn't be posting information on this website right now. So keep saying stuff like that, but I rather let the perfessionals do what they need to do for anything.

Plastic were invented by material engineers working on the space program. it is a large, profitable, and useful industry. Parts of your computer are made of it. Innovations in computing were needed. More efficient fuels were researched. The Internet was a joint military and NASA project. Obviously you are taking advantage of them right now.

Why do people wan't more money, just to have smex with different women (Like at the South park episode Sexual Healing) or they just to stay at Earth not knowing that one day Earth maight be reduced to a Mars-Like planet. There are extraterrestrials or Extrajovians (not Jupiter or any thing else outside the habitable zone) that seem friendly (Hollywood makes them evil just so humans can feel good about themselves). A Solar System is not a Galaxy as many people who believe in sky spirits still discredit today. There is always a way to travel there not just by using simple rockets or shuttles or anything that the people that don't know what the new things that the scientists thought about. There will come a time when an organism is taken from Gliese, COROT or PSR to Earth and shown to those guys who still believes in magic making and they'll say "Oo thats fake thats just a cat in FrogChickenleg costume and aliens don't exist blah blah blah" like some thing that you pray to actually help you? I tried once and all I get is embarressment and mockery and everything bad that happens...(whoever reads this and notices that i'm off the subject please don't comment "dude you suck all I read was blah blah i hate religion blah blah aliens exist...) please hesitate to type...

Space Exploration has given us many,many technologies that are essential.

Satellites were some of the first venturers into space and are another critical part of our society.

Weather Forecasting (Satellites. Very important for hurricanes and dangerous storm systems, have saved lives and help us prepare for the worst.)

Velcor and non-stick pans! (Mostly a joke, but hey, they work!) (General Technology.)

GPS (Very critical if your lost somewhere, has saved lives!) (Satellites.)

Long range television! (Satellites.)

Long Range Communication (Phones,Cellphones,etc.) (Satellites.)

Internet. (Satellites, and power lines of course.)

(Much much more.)

Now onto the somewhat psyhcological and green-wise part of why we need Space Exploration.

If we stopped warring with eachohter and wasting precious minerals that we have on this Earth -on- war, we would have a lot more resources to spend on more important things such as daily life, and hey, space exploration wouldnt mind some more attention either. If we spent our time looking for other planets, and other areas of expansion. We would be a much more healthy planet and society. Our Earth is also nearlly completely explored except for the oceans depths which are frankly impossible to get to the bottom too. The pressures are far far too powerful and some even say its more dangerous to trek to the bottom of our oceans then it is into space. Our bodies and steels cannot handle the intense pressure they have for more then a half hour. (The window of an exploratory sub cracked and the crew nearly died before they had to immediately go back up.)

Look at the casualties of war and the waste of resources and land. Oil spills are causing massive damage to the eco-system, the recent gulf spill has me worried that the entire balance might just be at stake. We have seen that solar powered cars can convert it to electricity and has just as much if not more power then gas cars. (Instant accelereation* and some have gone to 100 mph.) * You have to rev your engine on a gas car to get gas into the engine before accelerating. With electricity the power is instant.

Solar Power is infinitely renewable (Until the sun dies.) and infinitely powerful, why waste money on oil rigs? Your going to get alot more money on solar power and less expenses with minor maintence.

There are so many more things I can name at this time, but here are just a few as I must go eat for now.

Space exploration entails research and development on multifarious fronts, all of which require monetary investment and a period of trial and error in innovation before any outcome, whether positive or otherwise, can manifest. An example is R&D in the pharmaceutical industry. The cost may be fairly high, but if any discoveries that benefit mankind directly or via a spillover effect are made, the advantages will be vast.