Opinionated News

Ok, I get the prestige angle.  I understand the invest now for long term profit implication.  I appreciate the sense of pride that India has today as it becomes one of a handful of nations in the world to put a spacecraft into space.  But can someone please explain to me why a country that has poverty issues on an immense scale such as India can find the money to fund space research and implementation?

The news that India has launched a spacecraft, Chandrayaan 1, to orbit the moon is incredible.  Many of the images we receive out of India are of starving children, mothers trying to feed their babies, and old people with skeleton like legs.  We see the statistics were 50% of the world’s hungry people live in India.  We donate small change when organizations bring to light the plight of young children in this poverty stricken country.  And their Government has put a spacecraft into space?

Talk about a priority mix-up!   Anyone who has any interest in the NASA space program knows the amount of money it takes to develop, build and maintain equipment and skills in the space field.  This is not just a substantial sized building that’s going to allow for international business growth.  According to the BBC this mission is estimated to cost $78million.  How many people would that kind of money feed in a country like India?  How many children would that help to keep disease free?  What kind of impact could that money have had on the poverty situation in the country?

I love the idea of space travel and exploration.   It’s not that I’m against the spending of this kind of money on space programs.  I just feel that in a country with an earned social reputation for poverty and hunger, this money ought to have been put into programs that perhaps weren’t as newsworthy, but would have made a few less starving children in the world.  Watch the video and see how Indian town lives, and the way in which the Food for People organization is helping provide what we in the western world call basic needs to thousands of people - then think about how a fraction of the cost of that spacecraft could positively impact the Indian people.

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