For some time now I’ve been very concerned that we (as space enthusiasts) have been completely failing at communicating our message to the general public. I’ve had countless arguments with people who are “anti-space” and I feel that the arguments of inspiration and spin-offs just don’t work for them. People need to see more tangible and direct benefits to their lives. They don’t understand the value of something that has long-term benefits like the space program. In my opinion the three main issues we as space enthusiasts need to tackle are:
1) Communication of what we do in space (people barely know what Apollo is. It’s amazing how many people don’t know we even have a space station and then are amazed to learn about what we do in space. We can’t expect the media to do our work for us. We need to push space exploration religiously. Our goal should be to educate people about cool things that are done in space on a daily basis.)
2) Communication of what NASA costs us as taxpayers (there are two ways to think of NASA’s budget: $18 billion or less than 1 penny for every dollar spent on taxes or 0.7 % of the federal budget. Out of context the first number seems huge to the average person. The second way seems like a bargain! Just look at this Wired article that discusses a survey that showed that Americans believed that NASA’s budget was one-fourth of the total budget!: http://blog.wired.com/wiredsci.....erica.html)
3)Communication of how our daily lives are affected by space (this is the usual spin-offs discussion)
4) Communication of NASA’s Return-On-Investment (this is a hard figure to come up with, but if we had it it would be a great one point reply to the nay-sayers)
5) Communication of NASA’s long term benefits to our nation and the world (in my opinion the hardest of all things to communicate or prove)

Note the key to all 5 points is communication! If NASA isn’t able to promote itself that’s no excuse as to why we as private citizens can’t do it. Do we really care enough about this issue to do this on our own? Wernher VonBraun spent his entire life as a staunch space advocate, communicating his message within the government and to the general public. He realized that we lived in a democracy and that in the end it was the voice of the people that decided the course we would take. He wrote technical books, science-fiction novels, magazine articles, and even worked with Disney on a series of shows dealing with our future in space. We need to the same. Personally, I’m trying to do my part with my blog (http://infinite-frontier.blogspot.com/) and a start up model-rocket club (still in development, but the goal is to teach children the basics of rocketry through community events and online educational videos). I don’t think what I’m doing is enough, but I’m trying to take one small step at a time.

With the internet we have the opportunity to communicate our message more effectively than ever. Want to spread the gospel of space? Start a blog, make a YouTube video, participate in online communities, contribute space articles to Digg and Reddit, twitter about space, facebook about space, MySpace about… space, launch model rockets in your neighborhood (but not at your neighbors), go talk at your local elementary school, be an astronaut for halloween, celebrate Yuri’s night, invite friends over for Shuttle launch viewing parties, communicate, communicate, communicate!

But I would have said something like:

‘Space’ is a part of our economy and will be on into the future. And it will grow.
There are 4 main reasons for space:
Survival
Soft Power/Prestige
Economy
Human Experience/Technology Development

There are a lot more resources off planet than on planet.

Hear are some general practical reasons for Space Flight:
*Survival – We discover new things that can take out the entirety of humanity all the time. If we never start to go we’ll never go, and we’ll go the way of the dinosaurs. We can not remain static and survive in a dynamic universe.
*National Prestige/Soft Power – Anyone who is anyone goes to space (The Rest of the World is completely stoked for space yet the USA takes it for granted)
*Economy – If we really want to expand our economy be able to utilize the resources within the Solar System versus just earth is essential. This is obviously long term but Humanity needs to start thinking long term if it expects to get anywhere.
*The Human Experience/Tech Dev – Allowing ourselves new experiences gives us new ideas and new viewpoints. New viewpoints can help with technical development (not to mention the process of giving those initial new experiences). We have seen the payback from Space Tech in many ways across all facets of life (From Healthcare improvements, to efficiencies, to new materials, to inspiration)and it will continue to drive improvements our efficiency in utilizing resources,in our economy, our way of life.