What if NASA was funded properly?

How much farther in technology and space exploration would we be if the US took all the money they wasted on war and spent it on NASA and exploring space?
I'm not hating on the military, I was wondering how much further space exploration would have gotten if we used al the money on nasa

Simply compare what has been accomplished thus far with the annual NASA budget of approximately $18 billion, by imagining what more could be accomplished if it received the annual Pentagon budget of $700 BILLION. Visiting an Asteroid? A human voyage to Mars? Or building a Moon base?
Blame the powers-that-be in Washington and special interests on Wall Street for not permitting any of this to happen within our lifetime. If commercial U.S.spaceflight is a roaring success, then the dreamers and visionaries may be able to force the decision makers hands.

Ah to be young again.

You're making several logical mistakes.


1) There is no reason to think or expect that NASA spending would increase at all.  How do you know we wouldn't just use the money to rebuild roads and infrastructure, or just so they could pad bureaucracies everywhere in the government?

2) There are good reasons to think that, lacking a potent military, other nations would jump on the chance to take advantage of us (or their neighbors).  A power grab in the right place, by the right dictator, could potentially cause oil prices to go to $300 a barrel.  worse yet, such a power-grab would result in either China or Russia moving in and seizing those assets.  $10 a gallon gas would eat up any savings and NASA still wouldn't get funded.

Imagine if Saddam Hussein had been allowed to seize Kuwait and no one moved to stop it.  What would have stopped him from taking bites out of other oil-rich states in the area, until he DID control 30% to 40% of the World's oil production?  Do you think NASA would have been a priority in our budgets at that point?

Hate on the military if you must, but don't pretend that they don't have a vital purpose in the World.