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Competition to Build the Space Shuttle's Successor
Neil Halelamien writes "The competition for the prime contract to build the Crew Exploration Vehicle, the successor to the Space Shuttle, is ramping up. Currently, 11 different companies are creating preliminary designs for systems and vehicles which could be useful in implementing NASA's Vision for Space Exploration. By the end of the year, NASA will select two teams to independently develop and build a CEV design. The two teams will launch competing unmanned prototypes in 2008, at which point NASA will award a final winning contract. Aerospace giants Boeing and Northrop Grumman have formed one team. Another "all-star" team, announced a couple of days ago, is headed by Lockheed Martin. A third team in the running is underdog t/Space, a company with a free enterprise approach to space exploration, which includes notable figures from the commercial spaceflight arena, such as Burt Rutan and Gary Hudson. There is concern that a NASA budget boost to help pay for the exploration program could draw some opposition, as most other government programs are anticipating budget cuts."
You're probably trolling, since this question has come up and been answered over and over and over again. So, I'll spare you the full explanation as it can be found in full elsewhere.
If the given reasons don't seem adequate to you, just accept that you're part of that (significant) fraction of the population that lacks the foresight and imagination to understand why we need to explore space, and every other frontier that is left to us. No amount of my explaining this to you is likely to make a difference.
There were folks who were sure that Columbus was insane for making his journey, and Columbus's journey resulted in a hugely important and un-anticipated discovery as well as enormous benefit. Do you think his exploration was worthless? Would you have thought so before his journey?
Bah.