Yeah, it's too bad we had to abandon those lunar bases we built in all those years we didn't fight war.
We stopped going to the moon at the same time that we withdrew from Vietnam.
The only thing that correlates with the end of any interesting manned space program is the growth of government entitlements.
Social Security and Medicaid suck up FAR more of the federal budget than the Department of Defense does.
USA currently borrows that much per MONTH (mostly from China).
Vietnam was a bargain basement deal compared to current wars.
Also remember that in our "modern" wars, far fewer soliders die, instead they get lifelong permanent disabilities requiring super-dooper expensive care, and since they are teenagers or in their twenties, we have to fund their care for 50+ years instead of just paying for a funeral.
So there are massive hidden costs to war.
This is false. Actually, it's the other way around. See here: