The Arbitrary ChuckJerry

NASA dodged a bullet, almost literally, with the recent launch of the space shuttle Discovery. Another piece of insulating foam came off of the rocket when it launched. I say another because it was a piece of foam that came off the Columbia on re-entry that made it explode.

They are pretty sure that the Discovery was not damaged and should be ok to come back to Earth, so here's to hoping. After this, though, they are suspending any further flights until they are sure they have solved the shooting foam issue.

I'm wondering if NASA is becoming more or less relevant to society today. I suppose most would say that NASA is as relevant as ever, though I think you could make a pretty good argument that it's losing viability as a completely government funded program and that perhaps it should move into the private sector.

I think NASA's relevance is probably a lot more behind the scenes than the shuttle launches and such. I'd bet they serve a huge function to the government and society through their less ostentatious research done from Earth. I figure they had a hand in developing the computer, the internet, communication systems, and all sorts of other technologies, not to mention the contribution I'm guessing they have made to the Dept. of Defense.

Incidentally, there's an inherent irony in calling it the Dept. of Defense. A bit of 1984 doublespeak there.

I didn't really do any research into what NASA actually does so I can't really support my post, but I would assume NASA's most important work is done behind the scenes, and its relevance and contribution to society is probably a lot more evident than it would seem.