Sturm,
Just for fun...the next time you try to find something good in space and fail....turn off your cell phone and don't use it again, don't use the internet, don't send emails, don't watch your local weather forecasts, do not try to make overseas calls, don't buy cars made with kevlar so they don't rust, throw out your cd and dvd playes/recorders, get rid of anything with fiberoptics, turn off your computer, don't tell your children that the most common element on the moon is oxygen, that the atmosphere of Venus is sulphuric acid and over 900 degrees, that we've found evidence of water, lakes, ponds, hematite, gamacite, water ice and just very possibly microbes on Mars, that we've found huge volcanoes of ice on Europa around Jupter, liquid methane seas on Titan, octagonal cloud patterns on the poles of Saturn, diamonds in meteorites that existed long before our solar system, light-wave echoes in distant nebulae, spiral galaxies billions of light-years away, and planets around other star systems.
Oh, those are just a few of the things that came from our endeavors in space - and many are ones we rely on every day in our modern world without so much as a second thought. Space is not just about human spaceflight. Space is about exploration and the challenge of the future for mankind, quite possibly our ultimate destiny as a living, sentient species.
Perhaps you don't find anything good in space - but remember that the next time you are building a Panzerkampfwagen or Bf-109. Remember it was the German engineers who had the drive and vision to design the first usable jet engines and rockets that led us on this wonderful quest of discovery.
And, remember too, when you wonder why a few people died in Columbia because - ahem, "NASA didn't check some freakin panels on their space shuttle", put that into True context. The panels were destroyed from debris and were not noticed. It's a sad thing that people lost their lives over this - but, remember too that the original V-1's from Germany were piloted by kamakaze pilots whose intent was death and destruction, not scientific inquiry that benefits us all.
So whille everyone may have their cars and their status symbols of modern technology, few of them realize that a good deal of that technology is spin-off tech from our endeavors to get into space.
Unfortunately that same tech has developed the video games and ipods that seduce our 15 year olds into thinking there is nothing in life beyond gaming, MP3's and texting their friends endlessy. At least your grandmother knew the stars existed in the sky and would look up there on occasion with awe and wonder.
THAT is what we have lost....
-Rowen