The Economist Magazine: The End of the Space Age

What a Waste of Money This Has Been!

The lead story in the Economist Magazine is The End of the Space Age.  While unmanned space technology in general and satellite technology in particular has been beneficial, the manned space program is almost certainly unparalleled in having the lowest benefit/cost ratio in the history of government programs.  As near as can be told there seems to be no tangible benefits at all from  the trips to the moon, the building of the space station or the shuttle program.  (Ok, that's an exaggeration, there has to be some benefit from spending all that money).

Here is the way The Economist described the program.

ferrying astronauts to the benighted International Space Station (ISS), surely the biggest waste of money, at $100 billion and counting, that has ever been built in the name of science.

The Dismal Political Economist’s message to manned space programs, “Glad to see you go, sorry it took so long to show you to the door".

The end of the Space Age

Inner space is useful. Outer space is history

Jun 30th 2011 | from the print edition- THE ECONOMIST