At 03:32 PM 9/8/2004, you wrote:

You were kidding, right? With all of the amazing successes NASA and the US have had in space, you think they are a joke? How do you think those sats that your GPS talks to got there? Basic research ALWAYS pays off, even if the occasional experiment isn’t “successful.” We learn a lot even from the ones that don’t work as they were intended. Check with your optomistrist. They have glasses for nearsightedness and farsightedness. Maybe they have something to correct shortsightedness.

Don't forget the Air Force. While they don't launch nearly as many missions to space as NASA, there are some Air Force rockets that launch military satellites, including the GPS ones, each year.