NASA, do we really need it?

[Samineru]

Originally Posted by devonin

Actually the OP said "needed" and made it quite clear what they were talking about.

They stated that NASA makes a habit of underbidding and buying out companies who want to offer private space programs, even if it means running at a loss, and was asking our opinions on whether NASA as an organisation is -needed- when there are clearly private companies who would -like- to do the same thing, but are consistantly prevented from doing so.

In your post you explain no better than the OP did, you merely give some background information that to me seems to illustrate that NASA hurts the gobal space effort more than help it. Need can still be interpreted many ways though. If you surveyed a couple thousand people living in third world countries right now you would probably be hard pressed to find one saying that the US government spending seven million dollars on space is nessecary. If you talk to scientists or politicians however you will get a vastly different response.