The Future is Above Us.

My views are considered leftist. On this, the left and I vastly disagree. Space exploration is not a boondoggle, nor a waste of resources, nor do we spend too much on it.

Image of Mars in True color, from Wikimedia Commons and OSIRIS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OSIRIS_Mars_true_color.jpg

I’ve been meaning to write on space exploration for some time. However, there are more immediate (NOT more urgent) issues at hand which have taken my focus. To be clear: I have been focused on space exploration literally longer than my conscious memory. There is not a time in my life that I have not been interested. One of my earliest memories was the Apollo 13 mission. No, not the movie (though it is a great movie), the real deal.

What triggered this article was something I saw trending on Twitter about how the monies spent on the Mars robotic exploration mission could have been better spent.

Frankly, this pisses me off. Of all the government programs to focus your fury on, my dear friends on the progressive left, you choose THIS hill to die on???

Let’s break it down.

I’ll not even go in to why it’s a good idea to explore space until after we’ve looked at some numbers.

NASA budget, FY 2020. $22.6 billion dollars. 0.48 % of the national budget. Less than half a percent for something that is literally of paramount importance not only to the United States, but the whole of humanity. I agree, this is an…