Hmm... my perspective on this:

Relevant parts:
"Radiation danger is high"
"Funds that should be spent on health, cancer, AIDS, taking our name off 
that doomsday rock, or a dozen less risky robotic space missions must be 
spent on a single, high profile, high risk wild ride with no added 
benefits."
"A huge media event with no scientific benefit"


What you seem to be missing is that the same way that unmanned missions 
contribute to research in robotics etc, manned missions have benefitted the 
medical field too. Maybe you see the electronics progress because of your 
specialization, but (going to med school after finishing a physics BS) I can 
tell you research on the radiation levels humans are exposed to, and the 
effect of 0g on bone tissue is extremely relevant in cancer and osteoporosis 
research. Eg., the dean of my dept. has been simulating energy deposition by 
radiation on tissue, to determine possible effects of long term exposure to 
solar radiation outside Earth's magnetic field, but the research is being 
used in Japan to develop newer particle accelerators that have much better 
dE/dx characteristics for radiotherapy. And the list of spin-offs goes on 
and on... ('memory' metal, used for wires in braces (dental), and now also 
to build 'flexible' glass frames was developed by the Apollo project). And 
this obviously doesn't include the long list of medical research done by 
humans in LEO (since we are restricting ourselves to 'exploration' 
missions).

As for making it a huge media event/cowboy space trips: this comes down to 
the fact that ultimately it is the taxpayers that pay for it, and a big 
mission with heroes goes a lot further in justifying expense that a dry list 
of indirect technologies developed by aerospace R&D.

Overall, I think NASA is doing a pretty good job at balancing manned vs. 
unmanned; although a steadily decreasing budget, Columbia, and 
administrative problems has forced it to favor the latter...

My turn to get off the soapbox.

Alex


-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist