The Future of Spaceflight and Why It Should Be Private Essay

For the social science lens, we will be looking at the shift in the economics for space exploration in the recent years.

Stars, mankind has been staring up at them for thousands of years. Over those many years dreams and mythology have been created to explain those lights in the heavens. Mankind grew sick of just staring, and decided to find ways to discover more about it. Eventually over hundreds of years mankind has, been able to send men to the moon, launch satellites into space, and even send rovers to Mars. These feats of science would have been unimaginable hundreds of years ago, and to others that heard of it was only science fiction. With all these accomplishments, it seems humanity has a bright future of further discovery, but a recent development has surfaced regarding Space Exploration. That debate regards the future of space Exploration, and whether or not It should be continued through NASA or private companies. Various opinions have come from all over the scientific and astronomy concerned world. Others side that NASA should continue its lead into the future, because of its contributions to discovery and the scientific world. Others blame that NASA’s lack of progress in previous projects has lead to a disbelief of Nasa, and a turn to Private industries due to their smaller budgets and recent success. Even some see a balanced future of NASA working with private companies, and even healthy competition that will allow a faster progress into the future. Mankind has always had the desire to reach the unreachable, and it cannot go forward

Many critics believe that NASA and space exploration should not be the main focus of the government. However, NASA is not just about flying rockets and putting men into space. There is science and engineering that is being developed to push humanity forward in life. This space program is essential to answering philosophical questions, creating new technology for practical everyday use, the international collaboration with other countries, and the long-term survival of the human

Where the World Wars and commercialization allowed aviation to develop from the Wrights’ simple aircraft, to large commercial plane, to extremely complex military aircraft. Today, reorganized to form NASA, its main goal is the advancement of space technology and the human exploration of space. Using the private companies to commercialize low-orbit travel and the development of better rocketry, NASA can focus on deep exploration. NASA believes that commercialization is not only a method to be cost effective, but help raise the number of crew aboard the ISS, provide new economic frontiers in space travel, and brings the frontier to civilians. In the near future, with the aid of space commercialization and NASA research, astronauts and spacecraft will become independent of Earth. Meaning, that astronauts and spacecraft will no longer need to reenter Earth’s orbit for resupplies, but are able to self-sustain their systems. This will enable humanity to push further into the depths of space, beyond the asteroid belt or even

While many people support funding NASA and agree with the organization’s goals, there a good number of people who do not. A common reason for this is that they believe that the space program should focus on discovering things that can benefit us immediately, not in the future. This is a valid argument because there

As President Eisenhower once stated, “Every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed” (qtd in DeGroot). According to Jerry DeGroot, a lecturer in the Department of Modern History at the University of St. Andrews and author of the widely acclaimed biography “Douglas Haig”, every year, the United States federal government funds the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with over $17 billion. When Keith Yost, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was asked about government funding on NASA, he replied, “NASA is not only spending money, but also the sweat of our laborers, the genius of our scientists, and the hopes of our children.” As a powerhouse in the work industry, NASA is taking away from the remainder of the country. Before venturing off into space, the US needs to realize the importance of tackling the issues that lie before the citizens here on Earth. As Richard Truly, a retired Vice Admiral in the United States Navy, stated in agreement, “...I didn’t go to NASA for the United States to make international commitments that wouldn’t keep, to design space vehicles that will never be built (or will be then fail), or to make promises to the American people that will never be kept.” It would be in the best interest for the citizens of the United States federal government to cut NASA funding.

Neil Armstrong 's 1969 lunar landing was one of humanity 's greatest accomplishments. Since then, we have found that an infinite supply of knowledge and resources await us just outside our atmosphere. Today, however, critics are beginning to argue more and more that the cost of space exploration is too high, and therefore new technological developments should be left to the private sector. Whether funded privately or by the government, funding of space exploration is imperative because NASA is essentially the only agency with the technological capabilities to support aircraft manufacturing, air safety and air transportation. Space exploration has also resulted in remarkable innovations that has played a key role in aeronautics research, preventative medicine, and allows scientists to study asteroids, along with other space debris and their impacts on Earth.

The concept of space exploration was first introduced to the American public in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy famously stood before congress and vowed that America would put a man on the moon “within the decade.” With hopes of defeating the Soviet Union in the “Space Race” and gaining a leg-up in the Cold War, NASA funding reached its all-time high in 1965-1966 when about four percent of the federal budget was devoted to exploring space. Since then however, funding dedicated to exploring space has nose-dived to about one-half of a percent of the federal budget (Tyson), with plans to cut that figure by an additional $260 million in 2017 (cite NASA funding cuts). Experts in the space-sciences field argue that increased funding in space exploration would re-ignite the American economy and return America to the scientific prominence it was once known for, while, on the other end of the spectrum, naysayers suggest that exploring space is an economic sink-hole that the United States can no longer afford to deposit to given its own earth-bound troubles.

Through innovation in technology, the space exploration programs of the United States have achieved several benefits for today’s society. Many studies have shown that space programs have encouraged innovation of various

Look up at the night sky, see the stars, planets and our closest neighbor, the moon. Every human being at one point in his or her life has done this same thing. It is only natural to look up and wonder in awe at whats out there. Human beings are made with an innate desire to expand and explore. In the 1950s when there was no more of Earth to discover, people started looking upwards at the sky to satisfy this internal desire. Hungry for dominance and technological innovation, the United States created NASA and embarked on what would become the greatest voyage in human history. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, space travel and the technology which powered it advanced far beyond what any prior civilization could imagine. Inspiring in humanity hope for a future not on Earth. An analysis of the effects of the NASA space program on the United States reveals a radical shift in educational policies, an influx of new an innovative technologies, and a renewed motivation and hope for the future.

From the origins of rocketry, the only major contenders in space exploration were governmental agencies, while the commercial use of the Universe was limited to communication satellites. However, everything is changing. Modern developments like reusable rockets and nano-satellites drastically lower the cost of accessing space, starting the new Space Race. This Race, unlike the previous one, is accessible for all of us - and I’m going to share it in my Paideia class.

The world today revolves around technology and is in an ever upward spiraling path of new advancements. This path is now at what some people call the “final frontier”, or the space age. The discoveries being made on this front are overwhelming in comparison to the technology that the world had only twenty years ago. Space exploration was once left up to the governments, as they battled to be the first country in space, but with national debts raising and the cuts made in response, space exploration is beginning to become new grounds for private business owners. Private companies are already beginning to send off rockets at a fraction of the cost that government does, but if more money was put into the government space program, then they

Arguable the most important factor of creating a privatized space program, however, is simply the furthering of man’s knowledge of that marvelous frontier. With more opportunity to explore and research the many celestial bodies near and far from Earth, man can strive into a new era of technology and information. Countless stars within countless galaxies lie in wait as people seek to

Advocates of space exploration often get asked the question: “Why should we spend money on NASA when there is an abundance of problems here on Earth?” Universe Today has been compiling a list of responses to this question by space-bloggers from across the web. Check it out, there are some great answers. In response to

Many people think that nothing more can be done with space exploration. The assumption that there is nothing more that we can achieve with space exploration is a farce. Space exploration has brought us many technological advances. Examples of this technology, such as GPS are now so commonplace that we rarely stop to think why this technology came about and where it was first used. Another technological example would be satellite communication. Medical advances that have been discovered because of man’s need to explore space and the unknown. Space exploration has been shown to generate wealth for the United States and to stimulate the economy. The budget allotted for space exploration , conservatively in the low billions, is actually a