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Re: Earthly Benefits of the Space Program?

Subject: Re: Earthly Benefits of the Space Program?
From: Pat O'Connell
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 20:12:58 -0700
Newsgroups: sci.astro.amateur
Tim Killian wrote:

But haven't all of these are gadgets just made us fat and lazy?  ;-)

You want to go back to slide rules and mechanical calculators?

I think the biggest legacy of the '60s space programs was the demonstration of a national will that didn't involve killing hundreds of thousands of people. That will was dissipated by the following generation. Today, 36 years after the first Moon landing and with all our wonderful "technology", we cannot repeat the feat and the Moon is something we look at through telescopes.

There has to be the will first, then the money.


Pat O'Connell wrote:

The need for miniaturized electronics in satellites led to ICs, which led in turn to calculators, microprocessors, and their many descendants (for instance your car engine, your microwave oven, and of course your PC and MP3 player).
...
--
Pat O'Connell
[note munged EMail address]
Take nothing but pictures, Leave nothing but footprints,
Kill nothing but vandals...

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