is space travel a waste of time and money?

<< Back to: Space FAQ 10/13 - Controversial Questions

Answer by J.R.
Submitted on 12/4/2004
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Space is not a waste at all! Sure there are people starving around the world, I know that, but space helps with communications, surveying land, meteorology, and a lot more so that we can plant and harvest food more effectively. It also helps with improving planes, boats, cars, and international cooperation to help distribute food to the needy. Economically it's not bad either. It create jobs, improved goods, and improved processes for making goods, and, when you divide up the amount of money being spent on space by the number of tax payers, your hardly paying a few dollars a year, and I'm pretty sure you can spare that. Space travel may not help immediately, but it does a lot of good in the long run for all of humanity.

Answer by ewilson
Submitted on 4/27/2005
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Ok, what makes you so sure we'd be "living on the moon in 2 years?", even, if we did find out a way to live on the moon, do you know how long it would take to get it ready to live there?!, a lot of deaths and expenses just to get ready, and one little problem could ruin the whole thing. And if extra room for people to live is the issue, then they should be looking at looking at maybe,buildings or stuctures that be be built above or even under the ocean, it would be a lot cheaper and smarter, than going into space and looking at rocks!!!!!!!!!!!and by the way, while they are up there looking at rocks remember they are using YOUR money(!!!!!!), which could be used for something more important, like our economy.

Answer by Space
Submitted on 7/22/2005
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I think there are two kinds of research related to space - One is related to our daily life. For example, fruits and vegetables are sent up to the space to get their genes modified, which helps a lot in genetic engineering. This kind of research should be promoted. However, there is the other kind of research which is merely a waste of money, for example, MEP, aimed to find evidence of life and water. Our technologies are not mature enough to support such research. Some mathematicians in the 19th century tried to calculate Pi by hand up to 700 digits but they were wasting their time. Why can't we wait until technologies are mature enough so that it requires less to search for life on Mars?

Answer by msos
Submitted on 2/27/2006
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Space travel is not a waste of money because of the technological advancements they provide. The robotics industry boomed as a result of space exploration as did automation, control, and optics. How do you think they have the technology for new medical machines that provide non-invasive procedures? Look at laproscopic surgery, MRI machines, radiation therapy, medical imaging, most of these were formed from or strengthened by the space program and their findings. For those who say that there are more "important" things on earth that need our attention then why do they have sports games? Why do we have arts or entertainment? Movies? Dancing? Silk linen, tanning booths, or any of the other 30 billion things that don't stop starvation, warfare, depression, helplessness, overpopulation, disease and hatred just to name a few?

Answer by Seyed Ashrafi
Submitted on 4/27/2006
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I remember when I was a young boy, the first man went to the Moon ,and walked onto it ,His name is still in my mind â€œNeil Armstrongâ€ .How wonderful was it for me?!! I didnâ€™t sleep all night long and I was waiting to see that great moment. I was too exciting for me as I decided to be an astronaut in the future!!! At that time I didnâ€™t know what a big amount of money was spend on space travel , later when I grew up and found more experience in my life, I understood that. When with that money we can buy food for millions of people who have nothing to eat, or no clothes to wear, or even no healthy water to drink, why spend too much money on space travel? Now I think space travel is good only in relation to installing satellites and more than that it is wasting money and time. What is the point if we know in March whether there is water or no? At the time when we still havenâ€™t discovered drugs for many illnesses, is it not better instead of spending a lot of money on space travel, we think about the most important matters? For example: we think about Aids, about Cancer, about thousand of children that are perishing every day from hunger?

Answer by Burningblade
Submitted on 5/12/2006
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No, space research is not a waste of time and money because we think that there are problems in the present. We think, "Let's focus on the present and not the future! Medical research is more important than space research! We'll always have more time to research space!" I do not agree with this. There will always be new diseases and problems, and we will always be saying "We need to conentrate on the present". We do not realise that the future is closer than we think. We should continue our research and explore the universe for another place to live before it is too late. At that time, if we do not have anywhere to go, the world will fail and possibly, the human race will wipe itself out. Consider how many deaths that is compared to medical patients. We have enough money to fund both of these areas of research, so therefore, my opinion is that we continue space research.

Answer by mistshadow
Submitted on 11/24/2006
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ok, in some ways space travel has helped us, like the satallites, we need satalites for many things, there are so many ways we need the like for t.v, radeo, monotoring, (there are many more, look it up) but, we will never be able to discover "alien life forms" unless we can travel at the speed of light, or else wo wont have time, it would take us thousands of years to travel around that much in space! WE shouldnt spend all that money on looking for something that will never happen! We should just work with the fundamentals, and why go into space 9llike on the moon) when we cant even live right here? What will it solve? nothing! we should try and feed those starving!

Answer by Joe Bob
Submitted on 3/6/2007
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I think you could look at it in different views. First you could say that if we did do space travel we could colonise in space and attack other countries with a better view. Also the moon is half way between us and mars so it would be alot easier to get there. Second you could say that it is a waste of money and that we should be useing it to help the enviorment, help with the war,and many more. But I think the second reason is right and that the earth is going to be distroy sometime anyway so why does it matter and if the world is going to over populate and people won,t be able to go anywhere we could just figure out how to make a city underwater because one third of the earth is water

Answer by General Aziz
Submitted on 6/19/2007
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I don't think Space travel/exploration is a waste of money, because space travel has given us a lot. It creates new knowledge, jobs, and businesses. On top of all this, it contributes a lot to humanity. Our problem of the disposal of nuclear waste can be solved by space. Space helps us in monitoring our enviromnent for any hazards such as storm, hurricanes, typhoons, which can help the common person, and save lives. It also monitors chemical spills, biological spill, which can save MILLIONS, of lives. It can help us predict more and more accurately the Volcanoes, when they may errupt. Technological advanced due to space travel enables more efficient technology, which means that less and less power is being "wasted", and we can have more power for more people. A lot of the technologies such as this computer I am using, is at its current stage due to the space travel research. Or else, we would all be using giant computer filling up our whole rooms, very expensive, and very inefficient. Space travel needed to make the computers small to fit onboard, and that technology has made its way into our daily lives. Even the iPod is possible due to these advances. Many health issues can be solved dur to space, most genetic malfuctions can, because space is where we all originate from, and space is the "material" by which our RNA, and DNA was created, thus, if we are able to observe the initial moments of the birth of RNA, we may be able to solve the mysteries of genetic malfuntions.AND, because all living things are genes, we can also find a "safer" way to stop HIV and AIDS and find a cure for it. Starvation can be prevented by space technology: as food is found to grow even inside a space shuttle, we may have huge space shuttles, just to grow food, and feed the people in need, but this can only happen IF we do more space exploration. In the future, we may need to leave the Earth (actually its certain), and we need to go to "colonies" other than our home, Earth, maybe inside our Solar System, maybe outside, and to acheive the technology to do all this, WE NEED TO DO MORE SPACE TRAVEL!!! It is an investment, not a waste!!!

Answer by Bob
Submitted on 7/11/2007
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No. Space travel is not a waste of time. Communication, weather and GPS satellites save lives, increase environmental awareness through direct observation as well as foster links between disparate global communities. Consider this question. Do you try and solve all of the problems inside the continental United States before going on vacation to lets say Europe No? Why not? How can you spend money on a vacation when homeless people are starving on the streets, when crime destroys local communities? Answer: You go on vacation because it is enjoyable, educational and benefits your outlook as a human being. Space travel offers the exact same opportunity. Why say that all of the Earths problems need to be solved before we go out into space? Such a statement is ludicrous. Space travel is just another human activity - just another movement. Its practice does not require all of Earths problems to be solved. The money spent on space travel (a meagre proportion of the US GDP) if redirected would not contribute to a world wide solution to global problems, any more than what the US or any other government already spends on famine relief, environmental aid etc... In fact, the world would be plunged into a worse state were all the worlds space endeavours to be cancelled and their budgets redirected. Indeed, Earth is only finite. Space on the other hand is infinite. Have you any idea how many platinum grade metals exist in the asteroid belt? Would you sooner see humanity mine the Earth ad infinitum, the frontier closed until population pressures overwhelm the Earths surface? Humans have always travelled. Space is simply the next destination. As for solving the worlds problems, well, the Earth will always have problems. Simply removing a viable way to relieve those problems (space travel) will not aid matters.

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<< Back to: Space FAQ 10/13 - Controversial Questions

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Question by C.K
Submitted on 4/7/2004
Related FAQ: Space FAQ 10/13 - Controversial Questions
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is space travel a waste of time and money?

Answer by cfonseca
Submitted on 4/26/2004
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Is Space Exploration Worth the Ex pence? Why and Why Not, Please Explain.

Answer by Allicat
Submitted on 4/28/2004
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I believe that it is a total waste of time! The government should be worrying more about the earth's environment instead of spending millions of dollars on space exploration just to see if there were PAST living creatures! Sure, the universe is something cool to educate children with, but we don't NEED to know about it!

Answer by tash
Submitted on 5/22/2004
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i think space travel isnt a waste of money because that we a resrching and we could live on the moon in 2 years if we keep reserching

Answer by Chiranthani
Submitted on 5/22/2004
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i think it is a waste of time because the world has enough priorities like starvation, health research like cancer and SARS.You can spend all this money on these IMPORTANT things. So what if they did find things living in the past what can they do about it?

Answer by tash
Submitted on 5/23/2004
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i think it is not as if they keep reserching we could live o the moon next year

Answer by Queti
Submitted on 6/8/2004
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Si, en vez de ver a la población; se interesan a la ciencia. Podrían usarlo`para la gente enferma, servicio social, ong...

Answer by Sjors
Submitted on 6/11/2004
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the medical world and our industries profited a lot from spaceresearch...

Answer by Anomaly
Submitted on 7/7/2004
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Eviromental concern is more of a waste then space. Space unites the people of the planet regardless of gender, race, religion, etc. When a man steped on the moon, it was just that, a HUMAN.. not an american, not a man, not a woman... a Human. Space will unite us, and make us look beyond our petty differences.

Answer by lalala
Submitted on 8/3/2004
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Space exploration is very important to mankind. At the rate mankind is using the Earth¡¯s resources; we will have to find somewhere else where we can survive, unless we have a scientific breakthrough that can save the entire human race. There are countless mysteries about the universe in which we live in and it is up to us to solve it. Space exploration may hold all the information that is needed to help us on Earth. We may be able to harness new power sources or even find new elements that can cure diseases. We may even find new homes on another habitable planet where we can thrive and re-populate.

Answer by samwise
Submitted on 9/14/2004
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it is a waste of money because id give you 3 to 1 odds that space travel can threaten your sanity

Answer by llewo dawg
Submitted on 9/14/2004
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hey everybody - im doin an assessment at skool rite now an im wating time...... hello to my schoolyard chums in st matts in m udgee

Answer by huh
Submitted on 10/3/2004
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huhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuuh

Answer by coolfool
Submitted on 12/1/2004
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I think space travel is something we need to do because we may meet other cultures

Answer by trekky lee
Submitted on 12/1/2004
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We need to look into space travel so that one day we will beable to travel the stars just flying from one place to another. We need to better are selfs.

Answer by Peach
Submitted on 2/9/2005
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i dont see why people should go into space...what does it matter to me? many people have died going into space and billions of dollars have been wasted on stuff that didnt even work out....space travel is not safe =(

Answer by ello
Submitted on 3/15/2005
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i reckon the space race is not a waste of time as it is a sufficient foundation to discover and learn more of the capabilities that we could do with science, technology and the universe. the universe will be a waste if we do not benefit from it. we should learn ways of how it could be advantageous to us and help us for the future.

Answer by marylane
Submitted on 3/29/2005
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I do believe it is a complete waste of money when thousends of people are dieing of hunger. and we have enought concerns here in earth so as to focuss in other planets. if our situation have been better nowadays, probably, my opinion would have been different.

Answer by sole_luques@hotmail.com
Submitted on 3/31/2005
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sole_luques@hotmail.com

Answer by Grandpa Jillian
Submitted on 4/11/2005
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It is not a waste of time we get to learn about lots of things if we go into space and study stars and planets We get to figger out the distances between planets and then if we didn't have space exploration Mr.O'Neillscience topic on space will be nothing Thank you! Grandpa Jillian

Answer by lini
Submitted on 4/14/2005
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i think its not a waste of time and money, it is natural human instinct to explore the unknown. Adressing the issue of money, well the countries that do explore space are rich countries that can afford to do so and thier contribution is valuable to the human race and our survival.

Answer by physics chick
Submitted on 4/14/2005
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i think space research is VERY important. w/o space research we would not be as far as we are today. Space exploration helps in advances in technology. It has helped us make better machinery and invent new materials that have increased performance in our products. Space exploration and research is extreamly important.

Answer by kawaii
Submitted on 4/18/2005
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i think that space travel might be important in say a hundred years time but at the moment we have more important and pressing issues, instead of worrying about if we could live on the moon in a couple of years time we should be looking after our own planet.

Answer by bill
Submitted on 4/19/2005
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Yes it is a waste of money because the world could be spending their money on other problems such as poverty and third world countries. Why should we spend it on things that are outside of our country...these things are important, but lets clear up our world before we solve problems in space

Answer by karlene, canada
Submitted on 4/19/2005
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yes bill is right

Answer by dylan, norway
Submitted on 4/19/2005
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I'm from Norway, and bill is right

Answer by ewilson
Submitted on 4/28/2005
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Hey, Sjors, like what did the medical world profit from space travel?

Answer by Space Exploration rocks
Submitted on 5/9/2005
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When the money used for space exploration is totalled up and presented as a single sum, it looks like a lot of money. That is a deception. In the United States, the federal government each year spends less than 1% of its budget on space exploration, and more than 30% of the budget helping the homeless.

Answer by yeah
Submitted on 5/17/2005
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I think it is because we cant kill AIDS with going into space we cant stop cancer.

Answer by Amylou
Submitted on 5/17/2005
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i think space exploration is a waste of time because we could be spending all of these millions of pounds trying to save some people from diying, or children all over the worls from becoming orphanes in just a few minuets. Also we could be spending this money on giving every single child a FREE education.then the world would be a better place.

Answer by J-ME
Submitted on 5/23/2005
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There are no longer uninhabited islands, people are everywhere, space is the adventurers dream. It is a series of planets and galaxys that we know little about and we are dying to know more about. Learning about our world and the universe that surrounds us is crucial to understanding more about the world we live in.

Answer by ellie
Submitted on 5/23/2005
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space exploration is a waste of money!!! just think of all the starving homeless people all over the world in places like afghanistan!! sure, they might make some discovery about some life on mars or some sh*t but who cares?!? we're fine with earth as it is. and even though its gradually being destroyed by pollution and the ozone layer etc, instead of sending us all to the moon they could just use the money to fix up our enviromental issues!! anyway, mars is like a whole lot more un-liveable than earth!! pft!

Answer by happy
Submitted on 5/25/2005
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I think that it is a complete waste of time because um mm because there is not that much stuff that we need to now about space except that its there and how it was made we don't need to know that a star like 50 light years away exploded it doen't'bother us. we should use the money from space and use it for tighter border security that is something that we need, not going up in space to see what it looks like.

Answer by rydeonrydo
Submitted on 5/31/2005
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I think it is a waste of money because all the money spent on space exploration could be spent on poverty and medical research.

Answer by Hua
Submitted on 6/2/2005
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For one spacecraft to land on the moon it costs 20 BILLION dollars. 20 BILLION DOLLARS! that money can be used to... -Buy 4 Billion 8 sliced pizzas for third world countries -Build Houses for third world countries -Build water filters and dams for third world countries -Educate people in third world countries -Find a proper cure with no side effects for diseases like -AIDS -Different types of cancers -Arthritis And many other things