In the early morning of February 1st, 2003, the US watched in horror as the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over the blue Texas sky (Simberg). The wreckage of the ship and the remains of her seven crew members were strewn all across Texas and parts of Louisiana. Even the most staunch NASA believers contemplated their support for the agency as fire rained from the sky. It had been nearly 17 years since the last fatal disaster of the Challenger explosion, and this served as another frightening reminder that space travel still is not safe. The incident caused the question that everyone asked themselves that day: Is the journey of space travel and exploration worth the sacrifice of human lives? This line of thinking has ultimately lead to the debate over whether we, as American tax payers, should continue to fund NASA in its mission to explore and understand the universe. I propose that NASA is not only an important part of our government, but an absolute critical piece of our development as a human species.…
Reasons as to why the U.S. Government should continue to fund N.A.S.A’s space program is a huge controversy today. With the ideals that American tax dollars should be spent on more important things and that companies are now able to construct their own rockets that are able to send people on excursions into space, really is what challenges government support and true betterment of humanity.…
Arguments abound as to why the space program is a waste of our precious time, government resources and…
After reading “Cost Of Space Exploration” and “Poverty in America” it is clear that this is a debating topic. One side of the debate argues that space exploration has nothing to do with poverty and that space exploration is great. The other side argues about space exploration causing poverty.…
In 1961, the world was changed forever, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin entered the spacecraft Vostok 1 and traveled into space. Following him in the same year, was the American astronaut Alan Shepard in Freedom 7. Then in 1969 the crew of the Apollo 11 mission landed on the Moon. This space race in the 1960s helped to light the fire of man’s interest in outer space and has lead mankind to wonder if we could live away from the comfort and safety of planet Earth. Many scientist and explorers have wondered if it would be possible to colonize the Moon or Mars for the purpose of research, resources, and hopefully a secondary home for the human race. However, many people have also doubted the idea of leaving the safety of planet Earth to explore other options of habitable places. Many argue that space exploration is dangerous and some critics argue that it is using too much money that could…
Space exploration was magical for my generation. If you asked any child, especially boys, what they wanted to be when they grew up, many would proudly announce “An astronaut!”. That does not seem to be the case with the youth of today as our space program is not the glory we once knew. For the majority of Americans, the Challenger Disaster was just that, a disaster. After watching the documentaries and listening to the opinions expressed by both experts and those actually in charge of the lethal decisions in the launch, my views have changed. It is hard to imagine money and appearance were the driving motives to launch a shuttle with known complications. The fact the space program…
The Space Race can be defined as the international competition of aerospace exploration. The two major competitors being, the United States and Russia. The Space Race took place during a very heated era for both countries. The tensions were particularly high between these two rivals due to the Cold War. Both nations were determined to win the race no matter the costs or the numerous failures; the winner would gain a huge psychological victory.…
The Space Race was a period of time in our history that most people today know very little about. Beginning in the mid-1950s and continuing into the 1970s, the fight for superiority between the United States and the Soviet Union found its way into space. The Space Race, while often thought of as a not so secret competition between these two powerhouses to get to the moon, was in fact a public forum where they could demonstrate who was more advanced in technology and military force, and in turn whose politics and economics were better. With the Soviet Union making notable advancements in science and technology, their early start in the race seemed as if it would lead to their inevitable win.…
Remember the “Space Race” against Russia? What would have happened if we had shut down NASA before that? Getting a man to the moon was a Cold War victory! Shutting down funding for space exploration would be utterly devastating. Did you know that we can do research in space that we can’t do on earth? In space, we can understand more about gravity, and how machines work in different conditions, special medical research can be done in space, and there are many ways NASA improves on your everyday life that you didn’t even know. NASA is an American space program put forth to explore and learn from space currently funded by the U.S. government. Some say that Nasa should be cut off from government…
Many people say that going to space is too costly, and doesn’t help people on earth, or we have better things to do, like purging our national debt, or at least that’s what I’ve heard. But in fact, that’s entirely wrong except for the expensive part, but space exploration has brought so many useful items and gadgets that may be taken for granted from L.E.Ds to artificial limbs (NASA Spinoff).…
Do you think that the space exploration is worth the cost. Do you think that it is worth the resources and lives. I do think it is worth it. It has helped us advance in our technologies. It has helped us discover a lot more.…
Explorer 1 was the beginning of the U.S. effort in space exploration. Also in 1958, NASA was created under order of President Eisenhower and was an agency devoted to space exploration. In May of 1961, JFK announced to the public that the United States would land on the moon before the end of the decade (“Space”). As NASA`s budget increased nearly 500 percent, the U.S. spent $23 billion on manned programs between 1961 and 1969. The Unites States spent $.4 billion on project Mercury, $1.3 billion on project Gemini, and nearly $10.1 billion on Apollo (“Race”).…
The Space Race came to an end in 1975, with the launching of the Apollo-Soyuz project, the first US-Soviet space mission. The two nations have collaborated on space exploration ever since. The Space Race also produced considerable benefits for human society even though it fuelled tension from the Cold War. Space exploration required rapid improvements and advances in a range of fields, including telecommunications, solar power, and computer science. Today, many artificial satellites orbit the Earth and provide us with fast communication, television, GPS and weather data.…
According to Steven J. Dick (2008) in The Birth of NASA, Russia’s launch of the Sputnik satellite in October of 1957 was a source of embarrassment for America. America saw itself as a “leader in aeronautical and space science and technology” and Russia beating them to space was a slap in the face. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was born July 29, 1958, at the direction of President Eisenhower. At its outset, some of NASA’s objectives included providing national defense agencies with discoveries that would aid in national defense, reestablishing America as the preeminent technological leader of the world and peaceful cooperation between the U.S. and other nations in pursuit of shared goals (para1-9). Today, with the shuttle program gone, and with NASA’s budget getting ever smaller, these original mandates are getting more and more difficult to fulfill. As a result, America is in danger of losing its position as the preeminent leader in space exploration and technological advancement. This paper will be an examination of reasons why the U.S. should continue to fund space exploration despite other problems in the world today.…
I think space exploration is good thing for this world because we might find pterodactyl next big thing in space. I'm just saying that maybe we find the cure for cancer in a faraway planet or find a way to go into the past like time travel space is too big to look at thru a microscope but if we spend money we could be saving lives by the thousands instead of 7.6 million dying each year. I think president Kennedy was right for having such a liking to the space exploration and for thinking about the well being of his people. Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as high reward, I think Kennedy was thinking that when he said this line that there won't always be an easy way to the new frontier but we will get there and he knows it will cost a lot…