For some time there has been controversy over the effectiveness of manned missions into space, and while the benefits are too numerous to count, is it worth the money? Can't we find more effective ways to spend the money?
It's not an easy topic to summarize. Having just today written for ninety minutes on the subject myself, and still uncertain where I stand. A lot of big budget missions have been put into production, cancelled, scrapped, and then even bigger plans put on the board. I speak primarily of NASA, being the leaders of space exploration, though other private companies are being encouraged to compete to make space travel commercial.

But these are tough times. Can we still be endorsing space exploration when there are much more pressing matters at home? Are renewable energy sources, climate change, and a stable economy not more pressing concerns for the U.S government?

On one side, space exploration pushes us into unknown situations, one in which we must use our human ingenuity to overcome the perils threatening us, and such technologies rebound back to Earth in spin-off technologies. I'm not talking about 'NASA beds' but more about housing insulation, the Jaws of life, understanding of radiation safety and so much more. Things which have drastically improved or altered our way of living for the better.

On the other hand, space exploration is costly, and until we can overcome vast distances (which we may never be able to do) we're literally throwing our money over a cliff with no economic return.

Is the standard of living worth money which could also improve the standard of living - or are we all clutching onto that dream of being the first man on mars?
The next few decades shall be a hallmark era for space exploration. It's either going to take off like before, or finally run out of fuel and fall back to Earth.

So if there's ever a time to debate whether it's worth the trouble of going up, now's the time to do it.

[/desperate attempt to reboot serious discussion...]

This is a very interesting topic and I'm glad to see it.

I think I'm just as divided on the topic as you are. Is space exploration really worth it economically? At this point in time, I don't think so no. Globally finances seem to be unstable/rocky, depending where you are I suppose. As you said there's more pressing manners to pour funds into rather than pouring billions into space exploration. That said, there's billions wasted every year, but that's an entirely different topic

The gains from space exploration have definitely been great; we've come to a better understanding scientifically on things that our ancestors took for granted (to an extent) or passed off as 'things we'll never understand'.
Then again, with every space mission more space debris gets added to that which is already encircling our planet :/ and that's something we also don't fully comprehend yet, the effects of the amount of debris we're leaving behind.

Maybe I'll come up with more to say later, but at this point that's all I've got to share :/

That's something I hadn't thought about actually, the environmental effects of launching things into space is rather damaging. Yet another reason why it might be best if space travel be directed at the private sector - allowing the extravagant wealthy of our society to pad the pockets of space research -I'm sure no one will complain if the millions of pounds it costs one person to go to space aids in the creation of some great technology. Not to mention that commercial astronauts (a term I feel might actually be coined by some companies) will probably prefer the least ecologically damaging of spacecraft.

As it stands there are two main factors stopping us from reaching further solar destinations (such as mars):
Radiation
Propulsion

Finding a way to reduce astronaut exposure to radiation could lead to much safer (and more efficient) nuclear power plants (solving some energy problems) and Propulsion comes from a greater understanding of utilizing energy (which will again serve to solve our energy problems). So it's easy to see how space exploration could benefit us without even using much thought. Perhaps the true problems could solve each other (turn dangerous radiation into energy?)

The most troubling thing to our generation is that we can see billions of lightyears out into space, but we can barely step a second away from our own planet... Maybe this means we owe it to the next generations to get ourselves off of this rock, even if only commercially

Anyway, this has been a bit of a ramble more than anything. I'm eager to see if there are any hardcore NASA fans on RRR that can add some extra weight to this issue...

An interesting topic, altogether. I know very little about the cost involved with space exploration, but I do think that this view can be extended to a lot of other governmental programs as well, that while seeming to be of benefit may not be so cost-effective during the current economical downfalls, especially when various projects get funded and then cancelled.

Yes, I think we need to explore space, and if cost is a problem, how about the government stops all of these failure programs. That would be smart. Space is very important to explore, and I still argue with my neighbor, who is an old lady who is extremely religiously christian, about this.
She thinks that we shouldn't explore space, cause God didn't want it to be that way. WTF
That is why I am Atheist right there.