Who thought it was a good idea for the U.S. to be dependent on the Russians to get to space?!

[Lorizael]

As Patroklos mentioned, NASA is doing some very important work that's not related to manned spaceflight: Cassini, Hubble, the Mars rovers, Kepler, etc. That said, manned spaceflight is still important for a variety of reasons. For one, we wouldn't have Hubble without it. But most importantly, humanity needs to put an egg in another basket.

[Hauldren Collider]

That's a pretty pie in the sky reason for manned spaceflight, Lori. You're gonna have to do better than that if you want to convince people who don't love hard scifi novels.

[Lorizael]

True, which is why we'll likely die here.

[kentonio]

That's a pretty pie in the sky reason for manned spaceflight, Lori. You're gonna have to do better than that if you want to convince people who don't love hard scifi novels.

More than 200,000 people volunteered for a one way trip to Mars. There will always be an appetite for leaving the planet.

[Lorizael]

No, more than 200,000 people answered yes to a hypothetical question they were asked. That's a looooong way from volunteering to go to Mars.

[kentonio]

They asked for volunteers and 200,000 people applied. I'm curious how that doesn't count as 200,000 volunteers.

http://www.space.com/22758-mars-colo...-mars-one.html

[Lorizael]

Because the Mars One thing will likely never get off the ground, applying is fun, and there's no harm in doing so. The vast majority of those 200,000 know there's essentially no chance they'll be selected.

[kentonio]

Which you have to admit is purely supposition. If it wasn't one way, or if there was already a colony here, would you believe millions wouldn't want to go?

[Lorizael]

People who haven't dedicated their lives to space exploration will want to go when it can be done safely, cheaply, and quickly. Right now we don't have the technology for that.

[Hauldren Collider]

I promise you, if you told 200,000 people that they can get on that rocket over yonder, travel to mars and never see home again, you would not still have nearly 200,000 people in your crowd when you were finished.

[Patroklos]

Going to Mars is literally the next step in human events. Until we do that, we're stagnant... and likely doomed to extinction.

I am not surprised you are attracted to shiny things.

Patty desperately needs a backpedaling avatar. It's like every thread now.

Then you won't mind quoting the figment of your imagination you thing I am back peddling from?

ASS

[Pax]

The only reason to go any place is that it would benefit the person going there or it would benefit the person sending the other person there.

[Hauldren Collider]

Honestly, I think the value of manned spaceflight is significantly more mundane and immediate than "the sun will die in x billion years": We might learn something interesting and useful.

[Lorizael]

You might not think so, but that's also a rather long-term view. It's much cheaper to learn interesting and useful things with robots that it is with humans. And it's going to take a long time (and money, and research) before the benefit of having a human on location outweighs the cost of getting a human there and keeping him alive and all that other nasty business.

Additionally, we face significantly more existential threats than the sun's inevitable death.

[DaShi]

I am not surprised you are attracted to shiny things.



Then you won't mind quoting the figment of your imagination you thing I am back peddling from?

ASS

And that's not even trying.