The Space Program is a Waste of My Money

I take as much pride in the moon landing as the next person, but continued spending on the space program is a waste of money. What are we going to do with this research? Do we really expect to colonize the Moon or Mars? Won't that be kind of expensive. If it ends up being better than the earthly alternatives, how do we choose who goes first?

Likewise, the super-collider. Maybe quarks are the smallest component of matter, maybe they are not. What difference does it make?

I see the value of basic research. In other words, just because we cannot say in advance what information certain research will yield does not mean we should not pursue it. Indeed, sometimes the pursuit of one technology yields advances in another. I ask, though, should we not consider which technologies are cheaper to work with? Maybe the effort of building a super-collider or landing on Mars will generate useful science to be applied elsewhere. But surely, there are other technologies, such an environmental, biological and nano that have equivalent probabilities, and these cost a mere fraction of the space program.

I should add that I do not oppose other people spending their own money to send rockets into space or to sent small particles crashing into each other. I object to spending my tax dollars on such activities.