Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa
One of my math teacher told me once a short story about Henri Poincaré arguing with a child about the use of mathematics.  When the kid asked him what were maths used for, he answered : « and you, what are you used for? »<p>I don't know if this story is true or not.  I suspect it isn't.  But frankly I have the feeling there is more sincerity in this answer than in this long letter to a Nun in Africa.<p>If you spend some time on a spaceflight forum, you will read enthusiast posts about how cool it would be to see other words, to experience micro-gravity, or how interesting the science behind rocket engines is, but I rarely read about how space science will solve hunger, world peace and whatnot, and when I do it's precisely as an answer to someone who brought this up, and in this case someone who does not work in aerospace.<p>When a Kid loves space and rockets, when he spends countless time reading science-fiction books, it's because to him it's fun, fascinating and exciting, not because it's supposed to feed starving children.  I doubt an adult rocket scientist or engineer is fundamentally different.  Deep down he just doesn't give a crap about starving children in Africa.