moondoggle

plural moondoggles

1. UScolloquialderogatoryEfforts to transport people to the Moon, regarded as a useless waste of resources.

   He stated that “as long as James E. Webb is the Administrator of NASA, I am not voting another dollar for this moondoggle. […]

   1971, Thomas P. Murphy, Science, Geopolitics, and Federal Spending, page 372

   2 more examples

   We are virtually abandoning the first Outer Space area through which military attacks may be launched, to spend billions on a nonmilitary moondoggle — the attempt to put a man on the moon.

   1963, Frank L. Kluckhohn, What's wrong with U. S. foreign policy?, page 9

   During the years of Vietnam and the moondoggle the balance of Pentagon prime contracts shifted sharply to the Southern Rim, with the percentages mounting every year, […]

   1976, Roger E. Alcaly, David Mermelstein, The Fiscal crisis of American cities, page 170