Gadgetopia

I don't agree with everything you have said, but overall I think that you are absolutely right. What sense does it make to spend millions of dollars to send astronauts to orbit the earth a thousand times and then return home? Furthermore, why do we need a small, underequiped, limited capability no matter what you do to it space station? The answer is that we don't. Programs like Hubble are more sensible. If they want a perminant presence in space, they should devote more energy to going to Mars or manning Hubble to provide constant maintenance, not orbiting the earth. For example: when you hear of great inventions coming out of the space program, you hear things like Velcro. The problem? Velcro was invented on earth, not in space. So the mission that may have benefited from it, didn't have anything real to show for its progress while in space. Sure, they may run some small, usually pointless experiments, but often that defaults to things like the shuttle carrying names into orbit. That is common for shuttle missions because you simply cannot do that much from a cramped vehicle that is cut off from everything. So, the space station. Same problem! All it does is waste money and energy that could be placed into larger, more perminant, more realistic space missions. It makes more sense to have a base on the moon than it does orbiting the earth. A base on the moon could house perminant, atmosphere free telescopes for example. Also, I do think the shuttle should be around for say: emergency, the hubble needs a new lens, but overall, it should not be the main, money hogging vehicle of the fleet. As for the technology involved, the blunders revolving the shuttle are more numerous than could be imagined. This is where you see the idea that we have to have someone in space every second and that a crappy vehicle is better than no vehicle, which is unbelieveable and dangerous and a waste of money with the inherant limitations created thus. So I think the shuttle fleet and space station should be scrapped, and the money used on better purposes. I want people in space, but doing something constructive, not orbiting the earth for no reason other than to say "we are there."

Um, I didn't write the essay. I just linked to it.

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it on the internet.