> It is still somewhat unclear what benefit we get from spending massive (but relatively much smaller) sums on manned space travel (and to be clear, I wholeheartedly support it regardless)
The two sides of this question were already perfectly argued 54 years ago.
German Rocket Engineer Helmut Gröttrup (who didn't want to leave his family to join Operation Paperclip and was then instead forced by the Soviets to work for them in Russia until he managed to get back to West Germany) said in 1969 (Wikipedia):
> In an interview on the occasion of the US moon landing in July 1969, Gröttrup criticized the high costs of manned spaceflight and confronted Wernher von Braun with the thesis that automated space probes can achieve the same scientific data with an effort of only 10 or 20 percent of the costs and that the money should be better spent on other purposes. Von Braun justified manned spaceflight with the argument that "it would help humanity achieve immortality".
The two sides of this question were already perfectly argued 54 years ago.
German Rocket Engineer Helmut Gröttrup (who didn't want to leave his family to join Operation Paperclip and was then instead forced by the Soviets to work for them in Russia until he managed to get back to West Germany) said in 1969 (Wikipedia):
> In an interview on the occasion of the US moon landing in July 1969, Gröttrup criticized the high costs of manned spaceflight and confronted Wernher von Braun with the thesis that automated space probes can achieve the same scientific data with an effort of only 10 or 20 percent of the costs and that the money should be better spent on other purposes. Von Braun justified manned spaceflight with the argument that "it would help humanity achieve immortality".