Space: The Convenient Political Trope
Reading Tim Johnson wax nostalgic trying to justify China's space program, I feel his sentiment.
As NASA’s chief acknowledged earlier in a speech a few weeks ago, the Apollo program brought all kinds of intangible benefits to the U.S. as well as tangible scientific progress on things that affect our daily lives, like CAT scans, infrared thermometers and other medical technologies.
Whether China can make those kinds of strides is yet to be seen. But its space program is also likely to have intangible benefits.
Meanwhile, America's NASA is becoming proficient at boring people with details only engineers and mechanics could appreciate. Space, instead of thrilling treks to the moon, is also an international construction project. But, building a diplomatic tool in Earth orbit just can't compare to raw nationalism
I'd think NASA would get the clue and forgo white elephant projects, like a trip to Mars, and let private companies make space travel even more routine and dull.
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