The government is holding people back. It dumbed down the education system so that people wouldn't be able to figure out that they were being manipulated and exploited, and flooded the media with gossip and garbage as a kind of bread and circuses effort to lull the masses into a stupor. Because it currently has all the technology that it needs to control the population, government doesn't want research or scientific advancement, or critical thought. Innovation is allowed for things that make the population stupider and more docile, like Twitter, Blackberries and anything made by Microsoft. Space exploration would require too much science, and besides, its inspirational, so it had to be kiboshed.