Gayle King Defends 'Expensive' 11-Minute Space Flight After 'Disrespectful' Backlash

[hunter]

58. I don't think anyone should be supporting manned spaceflight, NASA included.

When my grandfather was an engineer for the Apollo Project sending humans into space was a grand adventure into the unknown.

Now that we have a much clearer view of the technological demands of keeping humans alive and functioning in space, and our robotic technology has advanced to the point where we've had rovers functioning on Mars for many years, it seems to me that sending humans into space only get in the way of actual scientific research.

I've been saying this for many years so I'm pretty sure this isn't the case of an all female space crew triggering me. If I recall correctly, I once compared returning humans to the moon to a "Here, hold my beer," party stunt or an Evel Knievel motorcycle jump. It makes no sense to me.

It also reminds me of a past time when I was living in a garden shed, riding a bicycle everywhere because my car was broken, foraging through dumpsters for food, and attending meetings of the local Sierra Club where they'd talk about their trips to Machu Picchu and their brand new "green" cars.

At one point I had to laugh at the absurdity of it.

What was I doing there among people whose environmental footprints were huge compared to mine? What was I hoping to accomplish? Why was I supporting this group with both my presence and my meager student membership fees?

I think that's my biggest complaint. The environmental impacts of sending humans into space are huge. The environmental impacts of commercial space exploitation are equally unacceptable.