NASA estimates 3,000 to 4,000 shuttle job losses
June 23, 2008 By MARCIA DUNN , AP Aerospace Writer(AP) -- NASA told a Senate panel on Monday that it anticipates losing 3,000 to 4,000 jobs at its launching site once the space shuttles stop flying in two more years, about half the cutback initially reported.
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As far as the economics, THAT is just like any other thing produced by man. On conception, an item is more expensive to produce, but as techniques improve, the price of items generally comes down.
Space has so far been the domain of governments, which as we all know spend 100$ on a 10$ item. In the commercial sector, with time, space travel could become as cheap as taking a vacation here on earth.
Have you ever considered what the population of earth will be in 100 years? In 1900 the population was 1.6 billion. 2008 world population is over 6 billion. In a rough estimate, in 50 years there will be 9 billion.
Maybe man shouldn't have invested in the laser because it was so expensive.
Some spinoffs from space exploration include:
cordless tools(which I use daily)
satellite dishes(so you can watch all those movies)
infrared thermometers(so you don't have to stick that piece of glass you know where)
smoke detectors
joystick controller for your video games
hmmm. yeh, maybe we should just forget about all these neat little things and give up on space.