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I don't know. If we spent that 18 billion dollars a year on conserving Earth, I don't think we would have a problem in the future.

Yea, 18 billion dollars a year, are they kidding me? What exactly are they doing that’s good for society? I don’t care if we make all our way to Jupiter, what’s the point? If you spend money on Earth, then we won’t have to live on other planets and stuff. It’s just a big waste of money.

Who knows that is all beyond the average, that is why they have these scientists trying to figure that stuff out but ultimately its the people that inhabit the earth that treat it like crap, hence all of these problems. No matter what anyone does, no one will listen in the end.

We Humans, by and of our Human nature are explorers. We have virtually explored all of our planet. It is now time to attempt to explore the rest of our universe – whether we inhabit (colonize) it or not is immaterial, but explore it we must for that is our nature!

18 Billion Dollars annually is way too little to prevent disasters such as the Challenger explosion.

Spending our tax dollars on socialistic programs such as the "Save Earth" movement is just a pure waste of money that will not help this planet one damn bit.

As far as the question of what good has space exploration done for us, well I have a grandson that went through open heart surgery that 30 years ago would have taken 18 to 24 hours with little or no good results and we owe his life to that surgery that only took three hours from start to finish and he now has a perfect heart. The expense and effort to miniaturize everything from soup to nuts for our space program is what did it.

Remember this, that all things do not make their presence known to everyone until it is time.

This is my not-so-humble opinion.

Yes. Funding NASA is unconstitutional. The US Constitution does not allow for such government intrusion. One only has to read the Constitution to know this. It is not OK to take money from my neighbor to pay for such extravagant expeditures that do not protect the US from imminent danger.

Do you have any idea how much it would cost for everyone in the world to go to the moon? It costs millions just to send a few people. No research will ever make it possible, unless the whole entire world pools it's resources which would never be possible.

If we invested 18 billion dollars annually into medical research, we would be doing more good.

It's stupid. I don't care if we travel to space. Do you have any idea how long and how much money it would take for us to live on another planet? The United States will be funding the research, and all the other leeching countries are going to take what we've researched and worked on and tag along for practically nothing.

I think the whole world should fund together.

Indeed we should fund this together on an individual basis voluntarily and not by the point of a gubment gun.

The point isn't to travel to another planet with our current technology. Space travel and exploration allows us to discover new information about Earth and about our surrounding planets. 18 billion a year is nothing when we are apparently spending 30 billion on marijuana prosecution. Space exploration is an important part of human evolution, just as sea travel was 400 years ago. We can't bottle ourselves away on this planet. 18 billion a year extra isn't going to save this planet, 18 billion to NASA isn't going to ruin it either.

The point is to use the moon as a launch point for future missions, if there is a permanent facility there is cheaper to send small packages to a lunar base for assembly and far easier to launch from the moon with 1/6th gravity.
Not only for the purposes of exploration, but there are elements that are rare on earth that are abundant on the moon, on Mars, elsewhere.
We are certainly not funding this research completely by ourselves either. The Russians have done as much as us and more for space exploration. Now that China and Japan have come deeply into their technological revoltion they are contributing greatly also. This is the one area of human evolution where many nations are working peacefully together. 18 billion a year is cheap for that basis to build on.

We actually have a multinational space station. Let that sink in for a moment. Should the government be spending dozens of trillions on failed, useless wars? Should it be spending untold billions on arresting potheads?

Science is the one thing that unites all mankind all the time. Religion divides us while science unites us. On the space station chinese astranauts aren't sabatoging US shuttles that dock, are they? No. There's no race riots on the station. No infidel purging. Perhaps NASA should be merged with space agencies from every other willing nation to form a UN style space agency. And I'll tell you what, it would work together better and accomplish way more than the UN ever has or will.

Space exploration might be the only possible uniting factor of humankind, or even intellegent life in general. For a species to be able to fully explore space it would need to cooporate on a planetary scale, far beyond anything us angry little warring fools on Earth can muster right now. The space station has Russian parts next to Chinese parts next to Italian parts, all used by German, Japanese, Russian, American, and British astranaughts. Think about that? Has anything else in human history brought so many different cultures together? No!

We should stop funding failed programs like our current wars, the war on drugs–lots of wars huh?–and any number of other wasteful money pits. Science can unite humanity in a way that nothing ever will, and space exploration is probably the only endevour capable of focussing all of human potential and let us move passed petty squabbles and differences in skin color, eye shape, language, and particular diety.

Nobody ever asks if the government should spend less on the worthless things it wastes money on now; it's always some form of "does science get too much money?" That speaks volumes about our current state of evolution as a society…

so science unites the world how? There is much debate in the science world, and the world isn’t as concerned with science as you may think, not every cares about the latest NASA mission.

Also, why is it our concern if the world is united or not. It’s not like peoples interest in science is stopping wars. What purpose is served in a united world? We are all different and pretending that we can all get along is just lieing to yourself.

And yes, there are other things that have united the world such as the Olympics, or even more so the FIFA World Cup.

Absolutely, FIFA and the Olympics are great, they do allow cultures to get together. But the main thing I feel you're missing in this argument is that the Olympics and FIFA are competitions, Brazil VS England; USA VS Japan. The operations performed in the international space station are cooperative. Nations coming together, represented by intellectual individuals who are above the concerns of their countries wars, their political agendas. There is something to be proud of in that. the fact that it's based in science isn't the point. The point is that there is a community of individuals who share common knowledge, desires, and drive regardless of ethnicity.
Science absolutely unites the world. Math is the universal language. And again, noone is saying its OUR concern that the world is united, but to progress to the future of humanity this world will have to unite. We ARE all different, but that absolutely doesn't mean we can't get along. You are closing yourself off from the idea that you can get along with strange cultures because you already feel you are TOO different.

Just as a side note, science runs this world pusty. If ever engineer on this planet were to disappear tomorrow this place would be a shamble inside a month. You can't say that with almost any other profession. Remove the bankers and we'd survive, remove the social scientists and we'd live. Stop science right now and we'd be dead pretty fast!

I was going to bring up the exact point about the Olympics being a competition while science, at its core is about cooperation and communal knowledge. The "competition" within science is not about "winning" but about discovering truth through debate, experimentation, and verification.

Ok, so there may be scientists that co-operate with each other, but aside from a personal connection between the individual scientists, I fail to realize how this represents “Nations coming together”. My example of sporting events was giving an example of a more direct sense. The world knows little and quite frankly cares little about these exchanges, perhaps this shouldn’t be, but most of the world is more concerned with their next meal , than NASA, and science.

The debate of whether or not the world can truly be united is another matter, I personally believe that nations will always be in disputes. Your assumption of me is expected from someone who is only speaking to me through the internet, the truth is that human nature is too flawed to ever achieve a state of perfection, where all nations co-operate, with or without a one-world order.

I do not deny that science plays a pivotal role on earth, but do not kid yourself, we may be knocked back a few centuries, but the world would probably role on. There is one job that would absolutely devaste the world, if all of these people disappered, and I’m proud to say that farmers feed the world, and without food, well, your finished.

as i am currently growing up on a farm.

Pusty how can you have such a closed view on humanity? Don't you think there can be a time where all people can put aside cultural differences and work together peacefully? Maybe I've watched too much Star Trek growing up but your view of man's inability to live and work harmoniously on a national level scares me a little bit!

Also, I agree farmers are important, but they use science as much as a metropolitan banker. You can thank science for your tractors, your irrigation distribution systems, and oh man don't forget your animal vets all of which are direct applications of hard science.

How about those genetically engineered crops?

our differences as a species are not real, they are percived. you perceive that you are different than someone because of some learned culteral assumptions, skin pigmentation, and believe in a supernatural creator deity. Those are all beliefs, not actualy "things" that separate us. If we lessend the value of those aspects of our lives then we could more easily work together.

we spend a fraction on space compared to other important things. it is actually not that much

I agree, science has benefited agriculture immensely, if it weren’t for science farming would be hard labour, instead of sitting on a tractor. But this was to supply the large demand of food, for the rapidly growing world.

It’s not that I have a closed mind, it’s that I am a realist. I know that you think that one day we will evolve one day into a world where everyone gets along, the world will be a perfect place with no wars, or disagreements. I’m sorry to burst your dreamy, misguided bubble, but people will always disagree, it’s human nature, it has nothing to do with race, or skin pigmentation, it has to do with someone saying “we should raise tariffs on you” and the person saying “well we will raise tariffs on you”. Let’s face it we always have been and always will programmed to look out for #1, be it nationally, or personally. It’s quite regrettable but it’s who we are, I wish just as much as you do that we could solve our cultural differences, but do you really think perfection is achievable on earth? Do you even know what you are asking?

who said anything about perfection? You misunderstand. There will always be conflict and strife, but eventually it will have to become more focused and less widespread, to a point where a much larger segment of humanity will be cooperating than we have now. Evolution works with society as well. All human civilization started as waring tribes. Those tribes moved into villages, then states, countries, and nations. Who is to say we will always be separated by the same artificially imposed political boundaries we have today? Nobody is suggesting the total elimination of war and greed, but eventually it will become necessary to form larger cooperatives for the sake of economic reasons, security reasons, or some other as of yet unseen situation.

And what do you think will facilitate that merger? Technology will bind us. It has already destroyed the concept of communication limitations. I talk to friends in Russia or even Iran every night through my Xbox. Science will bring us together and help us refocus our potential as a species, over time, as a mechanism of evolution.

By the way, your responses are filled with assumptions about what other people believe. And you consistently make stereotypical extrapolations based on what you seem to think people who oppose your views believe. You are presuming at all times that those who don't agree with you are extremists in contrast to your beliefs.

I agree with PT447, pusty. I'm not saying the world will be perfect, and I'm certainly not saying there will be no disagreement, but some day the wars will end. Some day humanity will progress to a point where we have solved our violent struggles through logic. We don't slaughter native americans anymore and the bible told us not to do that as much now as it did then. We stopped burning witches at the end of the 1600's, again not because we were told to stop but because we progressed to the point where we realized these girls weren't communing with the devil. Society progresses towards peaceful mediation. Just because the middle east hasn't caught on to the idea, or because we push them around too much doesn't mean it isn't going to happen. You can't be closed to an idea of peace.

It's hard to believe in peace if you believe there is some true fundamental difference between "people".

And an example of me assuming stereotypical readicalism is? I was correct in assuming that you thought that one day we will evolve into a society of worldwide peace.

I am only going to say this once, Creationism suggests that their is a superior being and , Ateism suggests that one day we will evolve into being our own Gods (now I’m not suggesting that this is what you believe, but it is what the founders of Atheism believed. So as being your own God you can do anything you want without conviction, like killing someone, you don’t have to feel guilty about it, because you are God and you made the decision)

And for the last time, (i’ll caps lock this to make it stand out) IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RACES BEING DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER, IT’S ABOUT HUMAN NATURE, WE CANNOT “EVOLVE” OUT OF OUR HUMAN NATURE.

Absolutely we can pusty. Look at the history of the catholic church for an example. The human nature of a catholic 500-1000 years ago was based on religion being the top priority in life. So much so that we mounted "crusades" against the non-believers. Catholics slaughtered thousands of people in the name of God to enlighten the heathens and non-believers. Catholics have evolved past that need or desire. You no longer see huge crusades of armed warriors surging into the middle east destroying anyone who won't bow to Christ. That is part of the evolution of the human nature.

Humans are constantly evolving and changing. Society changes, as time moves forward more and more people take on a more peacful outlook. Education will teach us to solve our problems in a more thoughtful matter. Just because it hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it isn't happening.

Also, Writing something in all caps DOES NOT MAKE IT ANY MORE TRUTHFUL.

So your saying that one day we will evolve so much that we will not have any human nature anymore, seriously, I don’t deny the evolution of common thought, but we will always have our human nature, it’s unshakeable, it’s programmed into you and me. You don’t actually think that one day humans will evolve to be perfect do you? Because you seem to think that one day we will cast aside our very nature, and become perfect. (Please explain what you do believe)

I WAS USING CAPS LOCK TO EMPHASIZE A POINT THAT YOU AND PT447 SEEMED TO NOT GRASP.

No no no, I absoulutely do not believe we will ever evolve into perfect beings (even if we are made in His image). I believe we will evolve to a point where our petty differences are no longer a stalling point to the advancement of our species.

and what after that? What will we advance to?

Do you even understand how little money NASA actually gets compared to other spending issues? NASA get 18 billion per year to fund research and travel to space. We currently spend 70 billion each month waging our wars in Iraq and Afganistan. That 18 billion is literally nothing, it's not enough to make a difference in nearly all aspects of American life, and yet they make amazing and startling discoveries every day with that money.
No-one expects anything to fall out of the sky.

Um, ok, LordTiberivs wants to throw a changeup, that’s ok.

I am going to go on and defend the Iraq war, as I always do. I think that the government is more concerned with not seeing American bodies laying dead in the streets from a massive terrorist attack, rather than searching the stars, for aliens, and asteroids. And ya know what, if that’s what it took, I would pull all of that funding to NASA to protect American lives.

right right, I get you there. But my point was that 18 billion is literally nothing for one year of NASA. It wouldn't make a difference to the war effort of you took that cash away and spread it out into the Iraq offensive. We can't just stop all other projects in order to save everyone's lives…. Should we cut city funding toward garbage disposal because the war is more important? How about bridge and road maintenance. Theres alot of money there that could go to the war?

Once something is well known or experienced it gets boring to man (it's just a fact). Now that Earth has been studied and explored, we need to move onto bigger things, imagine if us human beings were able to occupy more then just one planet! What if we had more then 2? More then 3!?

What of the deep ocean? We have not fully divined its contents.

Are you kidding? Thanks to NASA things like GPS, cellphones and weather forcasting are possible! I bet that's somethign most people can say they need or want in today's world. The experiments they are doing on the international space station are things to help improve earth- things they can't really do here. Not to mention people spend more on pizza (27 billion) then on NASA (18 million).

I completely agree. NASA has become a huge peace keeping thing. If you told the American peoples durign the cold war that they would become FRIENDS with the russian's up in space instead of battling it out they would not believe you.
Now look at today. They've even created a language that's a cross between russian and english

of course it wil be possible some day!! but the question to ask is 'will we want to' or 'do we need to' back to what susan says… HOW ABOUT NOT EATING SO MUCH PIZZA??

You do realize that they are shutting down the shuttle launches from the states and that we will be sending our people over to russia to do so? Also, there are roughly 16 different nations up in the international space station contributing parts and helping to fund it. Don't flatter youreslves by thinking that we're they only ones doing anything.

I think we as americans should support NASA.Not just because a satelite can tell us where a hurricane is,but to create jobs. Those jobs would include; welding,machining,plastics,electronics,seamstress,engineering,IT Technology, fuel making any many more for different companies around the globe. Then with one of those jobs i could continue to support the American Breast Cancer Foundation,local mission,Boys and Girls Club,United Way,FOP,and many more. How am i to support a charity without a Job!

I think that we should supply food and water and eduction for every human being first.Right now over half the worlds pop. is living in poverty.If we supplied these basics first.Then we would have at least twice as many scientists,engineers ….Well just about every job title and not only that but if these people could stop thinking about how there were going to eat and start thinking how to improve everything from a screwdriver to a spaceship.our technology would advance SOOO much faster on top of all of that think about it ….if everyone had a job and had a higher income.There would be SO much more tax dollars available to fund space related projects ……………..So basically im just trying to say 6.7 billion fed,educated people could get a lot more done then 3.35b feed educated ppl .Like the old saying" 2 heads are better the 1"