The human race as a whole now seems destined to explore beyond the boundaries of our own planet. Motivation to do so varies greatly from person to person; however, moving out into the unknown regions of space is a necessary endeavor to secure a future for mankind. Many have argued over whether our extraterrestrial endeavors need to be funded privately by companies or publicly by the government. There have been many fears related to this topic, including the belief that the privatization of space travel will cause science to play second fiddle to profit. This, however, is simply not true and has been proven time and time again with the advancements industry has made. NASA and many other space programs have made numerous important advancements in all major fields of civilization. A large factor in this advancement was due to the Cold War and the Space Race that resulted from it. With two of the largest powers in the world racing to dominate the ultimate high ground, massive amounts of funds were put into the research and development of new technologies, and scientific advancement progressed at a rapid pace. Unfortunately, with the space race being concluded and the Apollo missions coming to an end, the government’s interest in space exploration went on a sharp decline. The main cause of NASA’s deterioration was a product of simple numbers. A single mission to the moon cost millions, with the final cost of Project Apollo reported to Congress as $25.4 billion. This has made space exploration unreasonable to the American government, which was already dealing with a precarious budget for many years. With so many of the world’s economies in a state of recession, procuring the vast amounts of funds needed to continue the exploration of space has become increasingly difficult. A corporation-based space program would make priorities out of researching and developing new transportation technologies. A commercial space flight program could easily become the catalyst for creating the fresh technology needed to create civilian passenger space vehicles. This may sound like an unnecessary endeavor, but it would actually be a real solution to many of the problems accompanying commercial flight as we know it today. Even though we already possess the ability to travel just about anywhere on the planet, the process is expensive and often quite time-consuming. Commercial flights from California to Germany take roughly thirteen hours of flight time to complete, but if a craft were to carry passengers in a low non-geosynchronous orbit, it would cut the flight time down to about a half-hour.
Some people call Space “The Final Frontier” but at one point all land west of the Mississippi was considered the frontier. Humans are curious people, sometimes too curious for our own good, but when we find something new we always explore and why would it be any different with space. When we explore the out reaches of space will no longer seem so small or insignificant. The idea of one day unlocking all of the Universe’s secrets, solely through our own advancements as a people, is what gives me that sense of
middle of paper ... ...2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. The "NASA History" Congressional Digest 90.7 (2011): 196-224. Academic Search Premier -. Web.
Enduring Understanding: Space Exploration has changed the outlook on space & human existence throughout time as technology has improved.
As important of an endeavor as travelling to the moon was, a definite purpose to it is not immediately clear. However, it was a remarkable accomplishment for mankind, and the United States wanted to lead it. Millions of people watched the televised event because they knew this was an incredible advancement for humans (Redd). As Neil Armstrong made the first step, he summed up the point that this event would forever be an important achievement to the human race, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" (Armstrong 268). At times it may seem that the development of new technology is stalling, but the moon landing proves that man is and will continue to make advancements. Only 66 years passed between the first airplane by the Wright Brothers and the moon landing (Stimson).
In the early 60s, President John F. Kennedy led America into a space race against the Soviet Union. American men and women across the nation backed this goal, allowing NASA to take great leaps in advancing its space exploration programs. This unified nation fulfilled its goal, and Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. However, since then, America’s space exploration has only declined. Funding for NASA has been drastically cut, thus greatly limiting the opportunities for exploring the cosmos. Understanding and exploring the universe is detrimental to the advancement of the United States and opens the door for vast possibilities. If the government chooses to limits its own advancement, then that responsibility must fall into other hands. Privatizing America’s space program will extensively further capabilities for charting the cosmos, all while creating jobs for American citizens and saving the government some money along the way.
These are the reasons why I believe there should be more investment in space research and technology. It would be a time consuming and financially draining quest, but the pay off in new technology, applications, resources, and expansion opportunities make it a goal to strive for. As our rate of consumption of Earth’s natural resources continues to increase, it is imperative that we invest in the research of outer space as a possible solution to sustaining the human race.
When talking about the current space program, Neil Degrasse Tyson once said, “I got angry with America, because advancing is not just something you do incrementally. You need innovation as well, so that your advances are revolutionary, not merely evolutionary” (Tyson 3). America used to have the top space program in the world. Being first to the moon excited the country and gave everyone a sense of pride and fulfillment. Lately, though, we have been falling behind in space exploration.
The Cold War was one of the most tensed times in the history of the world as the two super powers brought the world to the brink of war on several occasions. America came away from this period as a much more technological developed country. Peter Dickens in an article titled, Who Really won the space race, stated that “the conventional account says that the Soviet Union had an early lead but the United States “won”[6] (monthly review). Some people will say that the USSR won the Space Race, however there's evidence that this never happened. It is clear that United States won the space race with NASA and came away with NASA as its
It is within man’s blood and nature to explore, and space is our next New World. Man’s first achievement in space travel was the launch of the Sputnik on October 4, 1957. For the next decades, space travel was roaring like a rocket, fueled by man’s desire to explore, man’s desire for knowledge, and man’s desire to beat his enemies. However, these impulses have died out as the well of government funding has been diverted to wars and debts, and the interest of the American people has been diverted to wars and debts. Amidst all these issues it is debated as to whether or not space travel is worth the money and the attention of scientists, particularly since humanity faces so many issues on earth currently. However, because of the past inventions, current services, and future benefits, space travel is indeed worth the money and attention of governments and people. It is within our hands to control man’s advancement, and space travel is the next venue to do so.
After World War II, the capitalist U.S. and the communist U.S.S.R. developed a long period of tension and rivalry, commonly referred to as “The Cold War.” In our history class we learned that this rivalry led to a competition in space between the two superpowers to prove which one had the best economic system, military, science, and technology. This competition became known as “The Space Race.”
Since the beginning of time, mankind has sought after learning about and exploring the universe. This yearning drove us to achieve such great things as the journey to the moon and the discovery of water on mars. Nowadays, several people argue as to whether or not space exploration is worth the effort. I believe that it is humanity’s instinctual nature to pursue a better understanding of ourselves, and our universe. Further understanding of our universe will lead to the discovery of new technologies and ways to secure humanity’s survivability. As such, this essay will argue that space exploration is a necessity to our kind and that NASA should be progressively more financed.
People have been venturing out into the universe for many years now. In addition to satellites, both women and men astronauts have traveled into space to collect data about the universe. The first human being, the first animal, and the first spacecraft in orbit, were all achievements of the Soviet Union.
Historians have distinguished three great ages of exploration, the age of discover in the 15th and 16th centuries, which are associated with Prince Henry, Columbus, and Magellan. The second age taking place in the 18th and 19th centuries characterized by further geographical discoveries and driven by the scientific revolution. Now the third age taking place now, with the beginning of the International Geophysical Year and Sputnik to carry on into our exploration of space. With time we as a culture have turned our eyes up towards the sky and have decided that we need to explore beyond our grasp. With society having turned its mind towards the stars it is time for others to join, with the vast majority of enterprises considering turning to the stars it would usher in a new great age.
Most people think that the costly downside to funding space exploration is a reason to avoid spending money on sciences and instead spend it on problems here on earth, but such funding for space exploration actually promotes economical as well as scientific benefits. Space exploration is an important expenditure for the high cost because of the potential for numerous benefits such as the possibility to find useful resources to cultivate, space exploration and satellites produce many thousands of jobs in our economy, and it creates and discovers newer and better technologies through research and development.
shuttle is a very versatile instrument. From experiments in human research to inserting the Hubble space telescope into orbit. What would it be like in another 200 years when man has established colonies on mars or the moon? What an interesting life our future children will have.