I fully support humans landing on Mars and large budgets but I don't think anything gets exaggerated in these discussions quite like the commercial technology ROI of space programs.
I totally agree. If the only reason to land on Mars were the derivative technologies, I would push for just working on those technologies directly.
And the public is not fooled. Whatever benefits they got from Apollo (Tang? Zero-G pens?) were not worth the cost. But no matter how long the USA lasts, it will always be remembered as the country that landed humans on the moon.
