BobGoFish wrote:

There is controversy as to whether or not space exploration is worthy of
federal (tax payer) funding....

As taxpayers, we should always hold government accountable for our
money. NASA has indeed contributed much to our nation's knowledge base.

But NASA is a vestigal organ of the cold war. Its raison d'etre was to
counter the Soviet threat. So the purpose for which it was created has
passed, and it has become a living example of "bureaucratic creep".

There now needs to be a reorganization of some sort in favor of a
smaller, less bureaucratic national space effort (if such a thing is
even possible), and along with it a hard look at modern national
priorities. I feel much work could be privatized, and public endowments
or prizes established for technological challenges - as was
accomplished by the Rutan effort.

There will remain some work that only public funding can accomplish, to
be sure, but taxpayers should always demand accountability from their
government.