fkeel:
AWOL:
I decided I didn't understand grown-ups.
It's an opinion I still hold.ditto.
I was also quite surprised at all the negativity towards the curiosity mission - especially from "environmentalists" saying, that it was money ill spent. I recently saw some numbers on how much Verizon spent on improving network coverage in the US ... its no longer fresh in my memory but I remember thinking "wow. thats more than curiosity cost"
The US government spent more on air-conditioning military tents in Iraq, per year, than we did on NASA. NASA was never a huge part of our budget, even during the Apollo days. It peaked at 4.41%. Now its half a percent, not entirely because the cuts (~$4B), but because we spend so much more everywhere else. Kinda makes you wonder, are we really getting 8 times more utility out of our government, than we were 30 years ago?