Ending manned space flight would save money, but it is a virtual certainty that such funds would not end up in scientific research. While the country has experienced twenty years of growing prosperity, it has devoted fewer research dollars, both in a relative and absolute sense, on space exploration. Under the most optimistic scenario, NASA funding will remain level over the next four years and I am not optimistic. The country has become enamored in making life comfortable and easy and not engaging in horizon-expanding research. Political leadership has focused on pandering to individual wants rather than nurturing a sense of adventure and a positive manifest destiny.
Great countries do great things.
Countries on the wane turn to self-indulgence. Perhaps as the mean age of the country increases, the country takes on the character of a middle-aged old fart, primarily concerned with the comfort of an arm chair in easy reach of the television remote. Perhaps as the government has become more solicitous to the slightest discomfort of voters it has become unwilling to ask voters for the resources for great adventures. There is still exciting science and engineering emerging from the Space Program. The space station is under construction and we are exploring Mars remotely and even visiting asteroids.