How the Critics of the Apollo Program Were Proven Wrong

MarkWhittington writes "A recent story in The Atlantic reminds us that the Apollo program, so fondly remembered in the 21st Century, was opposed by a great many people while it was ongoing, on the theory that the money spent going to the moon would have been better spent on poverty programs. The problem with this view was that spending for Lyndon Johnson's Great Society dwarfed the Apollo program, that the programs in the Great Society largely failed to address poverty and other social ills, and that the Apollo program actually had a stimulative effect on the economy that fostered economic growth and created jobs by driving the development of technology,"

Comments

Good to keep in mind

[SuperKendall]

The next time we have a story about sending more humans/robots to Mars, can we all keep this historical context in mind please?

Sometimes the best way to help people is to help humanity move forward.

There is always a hidden benefit to trying things never before attempted beyond just the goal.

Re:Good to keep in mind

[HungryHobo]

I think you're only seeing one side of it.

people are happier, work harder and pull together more when they feel they're part of something bigger, doing something grand.

the race to the moon was just that. Something remarkable.

A generation of kids grew up wanting to be astronauts or to build rockets: something of huge value when so many young people don't really know what they want to do or be.

a bigger telescope or a some slightly better motors might be of more scientific value but they only make a rare few dream of being anything or doing anything.

Re:Good to keep in mind

[Lumpy]

If we spent only 10% of the Military budget on NASA, we would see most of science fiction become a reality within only 2 generations (If physics plays nicely)
Instead we dont even spend the amount of money used by the military to air condition tents on NASA. We value killing people far more than advancing technology.

Re:Good to keep in mind

[Lumpy]

Cheap is not the issue. each satellite launch can cost $90 bajillion dollars, but if it will turn a handsome profit, they will be launched. You think that DISH and SIRIUS/XM put their birds up there because they were told how cheap it was?

Give a man to fish...

[viperidaenz]

... and he'll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and you've fed him for a life time (or until the fish run out).

Same applies to poverty. Give a bunch of poor people aid and they'll be forever dependent on you. Give them all jobs and they'll forever be a source of tax revenue.

Re:Space program vs Welfare

[Taco Cowboy]

Imagine how many more benefits could the US have received if that kind of money was not used up for a stupid political competition.

Look at it this way ---- The US would have received a total of nada, zilch, zero, if the money that was spent on the Apollo program (or any other space program, manned or unmanned) was spent on welfare checks
 
The one spinoff that you guys have failed to take account of --- the brand value of the "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"
 
It is precisely because of Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon, it is precisely because of the WHOLE WORLD get to witness that particular landing, and it is precisely because of the combined AWESTRUCK of the human population from the entire planet, watching the black and white image of a guy in a very fat suit, bouncing up and down on a rocky / sandy surface, that the BRAND VALUE of the United States of America shot up !
 
The effect is tremendous.
 
Ever since the moon landing (back in the 60's) millions of very bright people emigrated from their homeland to America.
 
It is precisely because of those bright minded people that America leads the world in term of technology, economy and might.
 
America gets to be so strong not because of Americans alone.
 
  Without new ideas from those who moved into America, based on their perception that America being the BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, America wouldn't be able to churn out so many wonderful inventions, from electronics to bio-tech to many other fields, and it is precisely those inventions and the value of those IPs (intellectual properties) that have propped up the living standard of America.