The Practical Values of Space Exploration | Page 2

| | REPORT | | | | [Pursuant to H. Res. 133] | |
| +---------------------------------------------------------------+

THE PRACTICAL VALUES OF SPACE EXPLORATION

INTRODUCTION
This report has been undertaken for a special reason. It is to explain to
the taxpayer just why so many of his dollars are going into the
American effort to explore space, and to indicate what he can expect in
return which is of value to him.
Such an explanation, even after 2 years of relatively high-geared
activity in the space exploration field, appears to be warranted. There is
still a segment of the U.S. population which has little, if any, notion of
the values that the space program has for the average citizen. To these
people the expenditure of billions of dollars on missiles, rockets,
satellites, Moon probes, and other space activities remains something
of a mystery--particularly when so many other worthy projects
throughout the land may be slowed or stalled for lack of funds.
If, therefore, the practical value of the American space program is
being questioned, it is a question which needs to be answered.

It is interesting to note that the problem is not unique to the United
States. In the Soviet Union, which counts itself as the world's prime
investigator of space, there is likewise an element of citizenry which
finds itself puzzled over the U.S.S.R.'s penchant for the interplanetary
reaches.
"What do sputniks give to a person like me?" a Russian workman
complained in a letter which Pravda published on its front page. "So
much money is spent on sputniks it makes people gasp. If there were no
sputniks the Government could cut the cost of cloth for an overcoat in
half and put a few electric flatirons in the stores. Rockets, rockets,
rockets. Who needs them now?"[1]
It goes without saying that the workman was severely chastised by the
Soviet newspaper, but his point was made.
No matter where taxpayers live they want to know--and are entitled to
know--what good a program of space exploration is to them.
During the 1960's it is expected that the U.S. Government will spend
anywhere from $30 to $50 billion on space exploration for all purposes,
civilian and military. It is the intent of this report to delineate in lay
language, and in terms which will be meaningful to those who have not
followed the American space program closely, the reasons for this great
investment and the probable returns.
[Illustration: FIGURE 1.--A single shot of the 8-barreled Saturn of the
future will cost millions of dollars, maybe tens of millions. What makes
it worthwhile for the taxpayer?]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Associated Press dispatch, dateline Moscow, June 12, 1960.

I. The Unseen Values
The United States has not embarked upon its formidable program of

space exploration in order to make or perpetuate a gigantic astronautic
boondoggle. There are good reasons, hard reasons for this program. But,
in essence, they all boil down to the fact that the program is expected to
produce a number of highly valuable payoffs. It not only is expected to
do so, it is doing so right now.
Many of the beneficial results can be identified.
Those already showing up are detailed in the sections of this report
which follow. They include the most urgent and precious of all
commodities--national security. Beyond that, they also include a
strengthened national economy, new jobs and job categories, better
living, fresh consumer goods, improved education, increased health,
stimulated business enterprise and a host of long-range values which
may ultimately make the immediate benefits pale into relative
insignificance.
Practical uses such as those just listed mean the taxpayer is more than
getting his money's worth from American space exploration--and
getting a sizable chunk of it today.
Nevertheless, if we can depend on the history of scientific adventure
and progress, on its consistent tendencies of the past, then we can be
reasonably sure that the greatest, finest benefits to come from our
ventures into space are yet unseen.
These are the unpredictable values, the ones which none of us has yet
thought of.
Inevitably they lag behind the basic research discoveries needed to
make them possible, and often the discoveries are slow to be put to
work after they are made. Investors, even governments, are human, and
before they invest in something they normally want to know: What
good is it?
We can be sure that many American taxpayers of the future will be
asking "what good is it?" in regard to various phases of the space
program.

There was an occasion when the great Scottish physicist, James Clerk
Maxwell, was asked this question concerning one of his classic
discoveries in electromagnetism. Maxwell replied: "What good is a
baby?"
Now, as then, it takes time for new knowledge to develop and become
useful after its conception and