[Hanging Chad]

"...Cost of a typical shuttle mission: $500 million
Value of spin-off technologies from the US space program: Hundreds of billions of dollars..."
- - -
I, and I am not being cynical, just don't believe it.
I would put the money elsewhere and shut it all down until
somebody had a worthwhile reason for doing space exploration.
(other than just, "Because we can.")

[My2Cents]

Regardless of the value of "spinoffs," I believe the simple exploration of space (in all of its forms -- manned, unmanned, and earthbound), the space program should be supported in a robust manner. As a nation, we should pursue it, whether we get a spinoff benefit or not. That's just my opinion.