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© Copyright 1997, Jim Loy
We spent quite a bit of money, to put a few men on the moon. Was it a waste of money? Quite a few people think that it was a waste. I do not.
Spending huge amounts of money is not always the same as pouring the same money into a black hole. You often get plenty back. In the case of the Apollo project, many people were put to work. Their wages went largely back into the economy, they spent much of their money. Science (and other) education got quite a boost. The Apollo project contributed to a national optimism, which benefitted the economy. Some technologies that benefit us today (electronic miniaturization, for example) got quite a boost. Our general expertise in space travel helped put up more satellites, some of which make large amounts of money (TV satellites) and even save lives (navigation and weather satellites).
It's easy to count up the expenses of the Apollo program. But it's not so easy to count up the long-term payoffs, as most of them do not come directly from the Apollo program. But we did benefit from putting men on the moon.
Back in the 70's, I saw one of the first computer chips. It was on a satellite. It was one of those NAND gates. It made me start thinking. I may not own a computer now, one that is much more powerful than those that used to fill whole buildings when I was young, if it weren't for the space program.