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#11
I don't where you get all that. In fact how soon people forget the high risks taken when going to explore a new frontier. 3 lost in Gemini program when capsule caught fire on launch pad, Apollo 13 running into problems, the 1986 Challenger disaster where the shuttle was lost in mid air!
NASA now has live feed from the remote controlled rover now on the Martian surface where people have often wondered why we haven't already seen a live mission there too!
Plus you have to look at the International space station already in orbit to grasp the amount of resources as well as risk in order to maintain that alone! NASA like too many other things saw budget cuts over the years.
Even President Obama reflected on the advancements in many areas as a result of the Apollo program when speaking at the National Academy of Sciences back in April. Here's an except from:
Obama Remarks at the National Academy of Sciences
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
____________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2009
Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery
National Academy of Sciences
Washington, DC
April 27, 2009
"The scientific community rallied behind this goal and set about achieving it. And it would lead not just to those first steps on the moon, but also to giant leaps in our understanding here at home. The Apollo program itself produced technologies that have improved kidney dialysis and water purification systems; sensors to test for hazardous gasses; energy-saving building materials; and fire-resistant fabrics used by firefighters and soldiers. And, more broadly, the enormous investment of that era – in science and technology, in education and research funding – produced a great outpouring of curiosity and creativity, the benefits of which have been incalculable."
Obama Remarks at the National Academy of Sciences - The Page by Mark Halperin - TIME.com
Besides photos and having watched the live reports on the space flights back in the early 60s as well as the live feed broadcast on black+white tv in those days until 1965 when everything went color I had to listen to audio track from the conversations between the astronauts and Houston control earlier where you can hear the retro jets being fired after 2 of the 3 on that mission went into the Eagle lunar lander. That was something!
You can also watch NASA live tv by signing for a free account at NASA - NASA Multimedia Page
And of course you make that statement after long hours of research and study. Somebody travelling in a man-built craft to a distant place, looking around and taking pictures and souvenirs, and coming back doesn't make sense to you? You must be in the wrong forum.
What about all the rock samples that were brought back and exhaustively examined by scientists from many other countries, including Soviet scientists who at the time would've jumped at the chance of undermining any US effort? Oh, right, all fake and easily made with some special oven as pointed out by [insert unknown scientist name who was never actually able to cough up his own fake samples].
But hey, it's a free world, sort of, or at least a free forum . To each his own.
I remember watching the event and this is what I remember hearing. Of course, I also have seen TV specials talking about what he was supposed to say and about whether or not he really did flub it. Some say that what Armstrong actually said got lost in the S/N ratio.
But, yeah, I was alive and kicking and old enough to remember watching it on TV.
One of the largest advances havested from the US space program is/was the development of cheap integrated circuits and, with it, the advent of the computers we all so love and love to hate.