Was the Apollo program a waste of money?

[Sublyminal]

Keep flattering yourself.

Yes, we went to the moon five times. But toward the end of the final moon mission, there was no reason to really go back. We had explored the surface, what else was there to do? When they finally canceled out the moon missions they said it was starting to cost too much money and that the American people weren't as inspired by it as they were when the space race was hot and heavy.

Sure you can argue about putting a lunar base up there, but back then we really didn't have the technology to do so. And before Oblamer officially called it off, Bush had commissioned NASA to return and put a base on the moon, around 2020. But, again we have Oblamer to blame for that not happening.

 

[Sublyminal]

I'm surprised one of you moon landing believers haven't said due to being in weightlessness for so long, it temporarily made them all emotionless.

Really... and you say that I was saying some idiotic crap...

 

[bluesc]

I'm surprised one of you moon landing believers haven't said due to being in weightlessness for so long, it temporarily made them all emotionless.

Their souls trapped in the vast empty space!

 

[farreri]

Their souls trapped in the vast empty space!

 

[Black Flag]

waste of taxpayer funds.

Exactly.

It would not be a waste of money ... if it was a free man's money that was spent.

 

[KingNothing]

Yeah, let's show no signs of celebration.

Plenty of people who weren't the exhausted astronauts did celebrate, you know. Have you seen clips of how the NASA engineers and scientists reacted?

 

[whippoorwill]

Red Herring fallacy

You ever try to get a proposal past a bunch of risk averse (as if there is any other kind) MBAs? The business plan for FEDEX got a C in MBA school, where B- is the lowest passing grade.

Not every investment decision is the correct one, unless there are people who do not make errors.

Investment fallacy. I use a gun to take money from every person I see for 1 year and then use it to find a cure for the common cold. To error is human. To steal and spend is not investing its theft.

 

[The Free Hornet]

Believe we went to the moon 5 times eons ago and no other country has since, even though technology is light-years ahead since then, if it makes you sleep better. I'm done arguing with you. Peace out.

Hi farreri,

I appreciate the enthusiasm but understand that not returning is not for a lack of technology. The necessary equipment doesn't exist. For very practical reasons, we would not simply recreate the Apollo missions or what we think they did. Whether the Apollo technology is lost or not, there would be no interest in that much as Ford would rather not rebuild the Model T.

The Space Shuttle despite having much, much, much more technology, lacks the range and lift capacity for a moon mission. Our smart phones have more technology than Apollo but that matters not. Fake or not, the reasons for not returning are logical.

I take the Occam's razor position that faking the moon landings would entail more work than actually going there:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing_conspiracy_theories#Examination_of_the_hoax_claims

 

[PaulineDisciple]

Since it was funded with stolen money, it was a waste. If it would have been funded through the free market system, it would have produced better products and much more efficiently.

 

[pcosmar]

Power of the sun, not possible, not with our technology. Check back in a few hundred years, if we haven't killed ourselves off by then.

Bullshit.
Photon drive is known technology. We have had the technology for 40 years.

 

[pcosmar]

The entire "space Program" was a huge waste of money.
In fact we had already been into space before mercury. There is a much better way and it was proven with the X15.

The whole NASA program was about missile technology,, not space exploration.

 

[Chrysamere]

The Apollo program is the greatest achievement of humanity by far, it may be unconstitutional wasteful spending, but it's the best unconstitutional wasteful spending any government has ever done.

 

[idiom]

Believe we went to the moon 5 times eons ago and no other country has since, even though technology is light-years ahead since then, if it makes you sleep better. I'm done arguing with you. Peace out.

This actually relates to the reason Apollo was a waste. It was ahead of its time, by about 60 years, of what the private industry would naturally achieve. The technology is all extant now, but the physics are just as hard as they ever were. Our fuel and oxidizer choices are the same as in 1940. They math is the same as in 1890.

To get to the moon and back your rocket is 99.9% fuel. That is incredibly hard engineering. We can only just now begin to build that sort of rocket efficiently with Li-AL alloys and friction stir welding. Apollo solved it with brute force and a tonne of cash.

The Space Shuttle set-back the private industry decades by mandating all US public and private payloads would be carried by the shuttle. All the private alternatives in development were instantly bankrupted.

The next big reason is the business case is still extremely hard to close. Space anything is high risk, long term, low return. Basically the opposite of Venture Capital targets. So the only way it will happen is billionaires spending their own money, which is what we see happening now.

 

[Phil]

The entire "space Program" was a huge waste of money.
In fact we had already been into space before mercury. There is a much better way and it was proven with the X15.

The whole NASA program was about missile technology,, not space exploration.

The past or now was about missile tech.?

 

[Phil]

Believe we went to the moon 5 times eons ago and no other country has since, even though technology is light-years ahead since then, if it makes you sleep better. I'm done arguing with you. Peace out.

You know a light-year is a unit of distance, yes?

 

[Pericles]

This actually relates to the reason Apollo was a waste. It was ahead of its time, by about 60 years, of what the private industry would naturally achieve. The technology is all extant now, but the physics are just as hard as they ever were. Our fuel and oxidizer choices are the same as in 1940. They math is the same as in 1890.

To get to the moon and back your rocket is 99.9% fuel. That is incredibly hard engineering. We can only just now begin to build that sort of rocket efficiently with Li-AL alloys and friction stir welding. Apollo solved it with brute force and a tonne of cash.

The Space Shuttle set-back the private industry decades by mandating all US public and private payloads would be carried by the shuttle. All the private alternatives in development were instantly bankrupted.

The next big reason is the business case is still extremely hard to close. Space anything is high risk, long term, low return. Basically the opposite of Venture Capital targets. So the only way it will happen is billionaires spending their own money, which is what we see happening now.

BTW, I gave this post a +rep because this is a well reasoned argument. This is becoming a rarity at RPF.

 

[Sublyminal]

Bullshit.
Photon drive is known technology. We have had the technology for 40 years.

Are we even talking about the same thing? Are you talking about the photonic rocket or what?

 

[RickyJ]

Believe we went to the moon 5 times eons ago and no other country has since, even though technology is light-years ahead since then, if it makes you sleep better. I'm done arguing with you. Peace out.

Facts like this are completely overlooked by those that don't want to think events they have believed to be true their whole lives are nothing more than giant lies.

 

[Sublyminal]

Facts like this are completely overlooked by those that don't want to think events they have believed to be true their whole lives are nothing more than giant lies.

Even after presenting definitive proof, you moon landing was faked conspiracy nuts, still think that we didn't go. I'm beginning to see what people see all RP supporters as conspiracy nuts. We haven't went back to the moon since then, because there is no longer an interest in exploring it.

 

[RickyJ]

Even after presenting definitive proof, you moon landing was faked conspiracy nuts, still think that we didn't go. I'm beginning to see what people see all RP supporters as conspiracy nuts. We haven't went back to the moon since then, because there is no longer an interest in exploring it.

You did not present any proof. You presented some clowns that knew the result they were looking for (paid to produce) before starting the "experiment." Setting up a straw man argument then knocking it down is only proof to those that don't think.