[cameronbrown]

An incredibly cold and privileged view. How is feeding/clothing a hundred million people any less valuable than what India's space programme is doing? You say that the "future of humanity" is what's being progressed - well for all you know the next Einstein/Feynman/Tesla could be in that group and his/her potential is going to be wasted.

[fastball]

Industrializing / colonizing space is the future of humanity. Another country investing in space gets humanity closer to that future.

Einsteins don't manifest in rural Indian villages the moment you feed and clothe the local populace. It takes a lot more than a full belly to contribute in a meaningful way, and India isn't getting there any time soon. Plus, it doesn't matter if you surface the next Einstein/Feynman/Tesla if there are no forward-thinking projects for them to work on.

[Karunamon]

>Another country investing in space gets humanity closer to that future.

Not unless they're doing something new, they don't. This is what I meant by "the ground here is well-trodden". Getting to the moon is within the reach of any nation with a modern space program, the US just hasn't done it for a long while since there hasn't been any pressing need (political or research) for them to do so.

[fastball]

You start proving you can do things that have already been done and then you move on to new things.