When fixing the Hubble telescope was in doubt, the loudest protests came from the public. You've heard complaints that nobody knows the names of the astronauts, that nobody gets excited about launches, that nobody cares anymore except people in the industry. So they get the picture right for about five years into the future, and they're hopeless after 10. And that's why futurists always get it wrong - because they take the current situation and just extrapolate. That's the kind of cross-pollination that goes on with space exploration. If the United States restored funding for NASA to even a quarter of that level - a penny on the tax dollar - the country could reclaim its pre-eminence in a field that shaped its 20th-century ascendancy. During the Apollo era, peak NASA spending - in 19 - amounted to a bit more than four cents on the tax dollar. space-borne telescopes and planetary probes, the rovers on Mars, the International Space Station, the recently terminated space shuttle, telescopes yet to orbit, and missions yet to fly?" The answer is one half of one penny. That question should be replaced by a more illuminating one: "As a fraction of one of my tax dollars today, what is the total cost of all U.S. Many will ask, "Why are we spending billions of dollars up there in space when we have pressing problems down here on Earth?" In the current economic and political climate, it might be difficult to imagine much support for a renewed commitment to space - even in the face of a direct challenge from China. And here's my thought: As a nation, we need to keep reaching for the stars, to push back our boundaries and stake out new frontiers.
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