I know it sounds silly to people in the space business, but the public could really use some futuristic looking space ships and more exciting missions to get ex

I know it sounds silly to people in the space business, but the public could really use some futuristic looking space ships and more exciting missions to get excited again. Who cares what the public "could use"? This is a self-defeating argument because you're starting with the premise that the govnermnet ought to be in the business of making people excited/happy, and then argue that therefore, we should build awesome space ships. Once that premise is accepted by society, it'll be all about wealth redistribution, healthcare, and regulation (and ultimately economic stagnation), and building space ships will be the last thing on anyone's mind. This post also really bothers me because it's not like the public is a bunch of 4 year olds going "oooh, shiny." And if they are, we need to be finding ways to improve that problem, not playing to it. If society is that messed up, society is headed for the gutter anyway.