I am skeptical of the spinoffs rationale for NASA.  Let's say that we feel the burning, urgent need for freezedried food for humanity.  OK, so let's just research freezedried food.  That is pretty cheap, compared with having to blast a human into orbit in such a fashion that they don't die, and gains absolutely nothing from being associated with the space program.<p>Ditto everything NASA has ever produced <i>except</i> satellites.  That is the sole example where spaceflight qua spaceflight was actually valuable to us.