So, I promised myself I wouldn't use my journal for homework help as that is just tacky, however, I'm kind of in a bind. As I was thinking over these issues for my presentation I realized I needed some input. So any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
ETA: Okay, I screwed up and used radio buttons instead of check boxes for the "Check all that apply" question, please leave other reasons either in the Additional comments box or in my comments. Thanks again!
Thanks!
ETA: Okay, I screwed up and used radio buttons instead of check boxes for the "Check all that apply" question, please leave other reasons either in the Additional comments box or in my comments. Thanks again!
Do you support the space program (NASA)?
Yes
11(61.1%)
No
1(5.6%)
Sometimes
5(27.8%)
No opinion
0(0.0%)
If you view yourself as a supporter of the space program, how strongly? (one lowest, ten highest)
Mean: 7.39 Median: 8 Std. Dev 2.34
1
1(5.6%)
2
0(0.0%)
3
0(0.0%)
4
2(11.1%)
5
0(0.0%)
6
1(5.6%)
7
4(22.2%)
8
3(16.7%)
9
4(22.2%)
10
3(16.7%)
What is the main reason you support or do not support NASA?
Which of the following do you see as valid reasons for supporting space research and exploration? (Check all that apply)
Benefit to humans via technology advances (ie. medicine and improved technologies for work and home)
8(47.1%)
Colonization of other planets
1(5.9%)
It is part of human nature to explore and discover new things as they are available
5(29.4%)
Important for our defense strategy as a superpower
1(5.9%)
Other (please leave a comment)
2(11.8%)
What is your biggest problem with the Space Program?
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Btw, I should have qualified the "tacky" statement, I was specifically referencing things like could anyone do my paper for me type stuff. Drives me bananas!
I cannot tell you how sad it is. Asking for help locating information, or bouncing ideas around is nothing really I think.
:) Nice poll, btw.
The paper is about the issues of rhetoric in support of the space program so its okay to have bias in that area. If this turns into a thesis or something I will make a better study and gather real data. Thanks for thinking about it though. Of course, that is a real issue with most polls and some peple don't consider it.
Thanks again! By the way, I love your icon!
I could be wrong as I am not up on my space info...but from what I know. ALL the zillions we have spent, all the information we have gleaned have been for naught...What do we do with that information? What good is it? Sure, if it were really providing us with medical cures, I would support it, but I have yet to see a cure for the lowliest hangnail come out of space. All that money could be put into research right here on earth. I dare to say with as much money as the space program has used/wasted over the years, we might have cures for all the big ones if that money had been put into medical research.
As for the human nature aspect of "just exploring"--that's alot of bunk too. I think we pretty much know what's out there. Alot of rocks, and now we know they are rocks that USED to have water flowing around them. Big Deal.
Sorry if you are a big supporter of NASA, I didn't mean to offend. Just too much suffering, disease, hunger, and need here on Earth for us to be pilfering Outer Space just yet. When we get all this mess on earth in order, then we justly go screw up some other one.
:P
Aimee
You also seem to think that Congress sits down each year and says "OK, we have this much money, how shall we divide it up?" That's not how the Congressional budget process works. NASA is not taking funds away from health care or medical research. In fact, NASA is a very small portion of the entire Federal Budget. It comes under Independent Agencies, which means that it does have to compete with the Veterans Administration, which always gets a lot more in funding than NASA does. But NASA is not competing with Health and Human Services for funding.
NASA research into human spaceflight has produced a huge increase in our understanding of things like autoimmune disorders and ageing. So it's not as if the effort has been completely divorced from the problems of day to day life here on Earth. But that's not the justification for having a Space Program.
No, it's like Lyman Spitzer said when asked, back in 1949, what his (astronomical) research contributed to national defense: It makes the nation worth defending. If we let ourselves become so focused on the problems of the moment that we can not look beyond them, then we will have lost the exploring spirit that made us the people we are. That would be a sad thing indeed.
I work for a NASA contractor. I've been a member of the mission operations team for three different missions, and I'm currently designing something that's going to launch in 2012. So I've been inside of the program for a while.
You'll find that the Space Program isn't some monolithic thing, where everyone is in agreement. Many of us who work in the biz consider some of the programs to be very important, and see others as parasites that detract from the quality work. Of course, not everybody agrees about which is which. The people in Manned Spaceflight insist that without Buck Rogers, there won't be any bucks, because Joe Taxpayer just isn't interested in what
There's some truth in both of those positions, and there's also an argument to be made for permitting both manned and unmanned space exploration to continue.