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Teknekratos t1_ir1i2m9 wrote

Always reminds me of the racist-ass newspaper cartoon about a poor Indian guy with his cow knocking at the door of the "Space Club" where the usual bigwig countries sat drinking, and the rebuttal where the guy and his cow were toasting in the club while the contrite fat cats knocked outside with their rockets.

In the immortal words of Captain Holt: "Vin.di.cation."

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rocketsocks t1_ir1o730 wrote

At least for India there's very little argument to be made other than the fact that space exploration and building space technologies is a net benefit to the country. Even in strict financial terms it's beneficial.

However, it's also worth pointing out that when the US went to the Moon with the Apollo program it had extensive racial and sectarian strife, it had extreme poverty, and it was still a developing country. Something like 1 in 5 US households did not have complete indoor plumbing, and many did not have electricity. The argument that one must have everything "at home" completely sorted out before reaching the stars is one that can quite easily be turned against the history of US space exploration.

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Nijajjuiy88 t1_ir48csf wrote

They also overlook the fact that rockets allowed us to deploy early cyclone warning systems, which helped to save a large number (don't remember the exact figure ) from the coast of Odisha and elsewhere.

Also unlike weapons, they bring something tangible to an economy.

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