[Voltage]

I know it's very valuable to see how ants will tunnel with zero gravity. Other similar experiments must be worth billions to us with our feet on the ground.

[My2Cents]

Cost of a typical shuttle mission: $500 million

Value of spin-off technologies from the US space program: Hundreds of billions of dollars

Value of your cynicism: Worthless

[newgeezer]

The investment would make more sense if the romanticism and chest-beating patriotism of manned space programs would be shelved in favor of unmanned programs.

Some folks just refuse to let go of the Sixties, though.

[Question_Assumptions]

Did you ever hear the saying, "Don't put all of your eggs in one basket?" Right now, all life on Earth is in one basket. One large asteroid and KAPOW!