Miles O’Brien, comments on this article (via duckandpenguin)
I’m always surprised at how many otherwise smart and knowledgeable people don’t believe this, so it’s worth repeating here:
NASA ACCOUNTS FOR LESS THAN ONE PERCENT OF THE US BUDGET.
By the most conservative estimates, we’re spending ten times that much on the Iraq/Afghanistan operations.
One recurring comment re the new Star Trek movie that particularly struck me was from people who said they left the theater with a feeling of sadness, knowing that they’d never get to experience that kind of space travel in their lifetimes. It saddens me even further that the most far reaching accomplishments in the history of human exploration only happened because of dick-waving politics directed toward outdoing the Evil Commies. Space ain’t over yet; there’s still a lot to be done there. Hopefully we’ll get to see a little more of it in this era, even if we have to do it without warp drives and phasers.
