You can't eat moon rocks

Conclusion

“You Can't Eat Moon Rocks!”; “Technology Has Fouled Up the Earth!”; “Solve the Unemployment Problem First!”; have been the favorite cries against the aerospace programs by the uninformed element of public that wants more and more money for the cause of social welfare. Though these emotional outbursts in some cases may be justified, the reality of the situation is: technology, research, and development are necessary for any nation with a large population, if that nation is to survive and provide better living and economic conditions for everyone. In a very real sense, the technology that is so often criticized provides the only ultimate solution to social problems; gross spending does not. Technology can help find solutions for the fouled up Earth. The utilization of technology will help solve part of the unemployment problem, and technology may even develop a way, one of these days, to make moon rocks palatable. But until that day, the employment, prosperity, and monetary profits brought back into the nation's economy by the aerospace technology can most certainly provide the money to buy food, so that one will not have to eat Moon Rocks!

Finally, let the general public be aware of, understand, and be sensitive to the fact that aerospace technology holds great promise for all mankind. Most of all, let's not let the nebulous financial appetite of social reform jeopardize the future of America.