The Virtual Astronaut (Score 1)

In Which People Dream of Artificial Worlds is a chapter from physicist Dr. Robert Park's Book "Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud". In it, Dr. Park explains how human presence in space (the driving force behind the Apollo missions) was important only as a measure of national power. He explains how the Russians explored the moon to a greater extent and gathered more scientific data through robotic exploration than the US. However, it is the US that has been seen as the 'winner' in the eyes of the world. He also talks about the ISS. How, scientifically, the space station is completely unnecessary. He then gives a brief history of space exploration and some background on proponents of human colonization of space (L5 society). In general the chapter is a collection of his opinions, as a scientist, on how he thinks our country should invest its resources into space research. This is a great book and he covers a lot of topics aside from space exploration that would be of interest to this crowd. Give it a read, he has a way of making a point; "If there was gold for the taking in low-Earth orbit, it would not pay to go get it."