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Can Manned Spaceflight Save the Economy?

Barry asks: "Driving home last night I was listening to a particularly goofy AM talk station. Just before the syndicated UFO talk show 'Strange Days... Indeed' came on, the discussion turned to the Mars Rovers and George Bush's newfound love of space exploration. The interesting thought was that a large number of American political leaders were about to join Bush in endorsing a new manned space program because it would generate 'millions of jobs'. Given that manufacturing jobs are being shipped offshore, and high tech jobs are following, this almost made sense. A primarily unemployed population could mean big trouble. So I am wondering how many people were employed during the height of NASA's glory days, and what kind of economic impact would we expect if a similar program - a Mars mission for example - were launched today?"

3 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. Re:ummm flawed logic? by ShieldWolf · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Lots of cool stuff was developed that has found it's way into YOUR house. Everything from ink pens

    Ink pens were invented WAY before 1960, BALL POINT pens themselves were invented way back in 1935.

    You may be thinking of the SPACE PEN, which most people DO NOT have in their house.

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  2. Re:ummm flawed logic? by gorilla · · Score: 0, Redundant

    And it wasn't invented by NASA. Neither was Velcro.

  3. Re:Wrong headline! by Anonymous+Cow+herd · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Spam Achieves Spaceflight! Canned ham eats George Bush!

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