Space research is a waste of money. Agree or Disagree?

In this information age, space exploration is playing an increasingly important role in the immense advances of technology. But in the meantime whether it is a blessing or a curse has sparked a heated debate. Some people argued that space exploration has opened up our world and added to our knowledge, while many others claimed that space research is a waste of money. Firstly, it is undeniable that the exploitation of space has directly changed our world. Space research has already resulted in a large amount of products and has found some crucial applications. For example, the need to produce safe but efficient power resources for Apollo missions led to the development of practical fuel cells, which are now being explored as a possible future power source for cleaner cars. Besides, the need to reduce weight on rockets led to the miniaturization, and consequently to the microchip and modern computer. However, it is also one of the most expensive forms of extending knowledge. An astronomical sum of money and a huge portion of human resources are carried to explore space. There are plenty of earth-bound problems that deserve our attention before we go gadding about on rockets such as education, environment, protection, healthcare, and so-on. Even with a lot of inventions from space exploration, just think about the number of people who are benefiting from this? The money spent on probes to distant planets would be better invested in the people of our own planet. Our world is marred be war, famine and poverty. Billions of people are struggling simply to live from day to day. Our dreams of exploring space are a luxury they cannot afford. All in all, instead of wasting money on macho prestige projects such as space program, we must set ourselves new targets. A world free from disease, a world where no one lives in hunger, would be a truly great achievement.