Aside from your well-wrought answer to the question, your penultimate statement put my teeth on edge. For your team to question the worth of the space program while enjoying its benefits in practically every waking moment is extreme ingratitude. Said program is indeed worth, as you so blithely costed it, six “jillion” dollars because the research resulted in technology that, when applied and marketed, boosted our economy by something on the order of sixty to six hundred “jillion” dollars! There are darned few endeavors that have generated returns so handsomely for their sponsors. The next time you use a digital device (probably within the next minute or so) or a light-weight composite material (present in virtually all transport devices) or a hundred other things we didn’t have in 1962 but take for granted in 2012, you should take a moment to say “Bless NASA and all her techno-spawn!” If you have another few moments handy, contact your senators and representatives to tell them NASA needs their support.
Here.
Hey, Sclitlman, welcome to the club.
Just so you know, it’s generally considered good form to link the column you’re referring to in these threads.
And, just for interest, a later column: Why do we travel in space?