HavasuJim's Blog

Watched the 4 astronauts return from their trip around the Moon. I need to confess that I am a bit of a space nut. My favorite tv show is How the Universe works. I love Star Wars. Star Trek. Just about any sci-fi movie. Most of the books I read on my Kindle are of the Sci-Fi genre. That being said, I have come to the conclusion that manned space flight is a huge waste of effort and money. How many billions of dollars did it take to send 4 humans on a 9 day trek around the Moon and back? And what did it prove?

Heck, we not only went to the Moon but landed on it 50+ years ago. So this time, NASA proved once again that they could send astronauts to the Moon and bring them home. That’s it. The science they did on the trip showed how people can survive in space for a short period of time.

Instead of people, we could have sent several very smart robots to land on the moon. They could have wandered around for months or even years doing real science. Robots could have scooped up many pounds of Moon rock and dirt and sent it back to Earth. They did that to an asteroid that was millions of miles away.

Instead of boosting tons of gear to keep astronauts alive we could have sent robots. Doing that would save having to boost tons of air, food, etc. into orbit and beyond.

Right now, today, we have the ability to send a fleet of intelligent machines to the Moon. Not for just a few days at great risk and cost but for years at no risk to human life and much less cost. We’d accomplish more, for less and sooner. And one day, when the technology exists, then we can send people out there. Just not right now.