pic: Discovery Bon Voyage

[Barry Bonzack]

I gave my thoughts on the topic during the Orlando Regional.

There are many sides of the argument on should we have continued with the shuttle program, or invest in the commercial space program, or develop technology to go to Mars and astroids. My question: Why are these mutually exclusive?

Economics tells us if the marginal benefits outweigh the marginal costs, the participate in the activity.

Financial classes teach if the Net Present Value is greater than 1, invest in the activity.

I challenge anyone to find something else to invest in that creates more spinoff technologies which generate more revenue, saves lives, and creates business that hire more people. What other program has the ability to inspire tens of thousands each year to undertake career paths in science and technology?

I agree there are still fantastic things to come, and commerical space history is being written each month. It is very unfortunate, however, to leave a gap in human space exploration. It is more important now than ever that FIRST inspires students