The Next Fifty Years in Space

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." This quote was made by John F. Kennedy on September 12, 1962, and it encompasses the dedication the US had to winning the Space Race, a space technology race between the United States and Soviet Russia. The Space Race would soon become a huge competition led by many big factors and decisions. Overall, The Space Race started with the USSR's launch of Sputnik, an event which fueled nationalism in both countries, and ended with the United States landing a man on the moon.

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

With the threat of Congress cutting NASA 's budget, the United State 's sixty year preeminence in space exploration is in serious peril..

The world’s supply of water is in steep decline as more and more is being used each year by more and more people around the globe. Currently, 800 million people do not have access to a drinking source. At the current rate, 1.8 billion people could be living in areas of absolute water scarcity by 2025.

However, due to the long lasting drought in California we should heavily consider this method of producing clean water. In other parts of the world such as China, India, Australia, Spain and more they have been able to produce nearly fourteen billion gallons of drinking water through this process. The largest desalination plant in the world is located in Saudi Arabia and produces two hundred and seventy three million gallons of drinking water per day. If the United States is able to perfect this, it could fix the situation. Amanda Little does an excellent job of sharing a wide array of perspectives of desalination in her article “Can Desalination Counter The Drought”. For instance she describes the discusses the standpoint of the executive director of the California Coast keeper Alliance, Sara Aminzadeh, as she argues, “It’s just not a good option from a cost and energy standpoint.” She goes on to say, “Desalination may seem like a panacea, but it’s the worst deal out there.” Although this method may not be cost or energy efficient, this may be the only plausible method of producing clean water. As seen in Saudi Arabia this is an efficient form of creating clean water and due to the lack of resources, this may be California’s last

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.

It is impossible to stimulate our economy or to find new things in space without a space effort. The space exploration has only begun and it has only been happening for four decades so why stop something that only has truly begun.

The Space Race greatly affected American Politics and left a stellar legacy on Earth along with the discovery of many useful products used in space technology modified for modern day use. Evan Herbert exclaims how The Space Race affected American Politics by stating; “The presidencies of Eisenhower and Kennedy were put under great strain during this intense rivalry between these two world super powers. Eisenhower assertiveness was questioned after the Soviet launching of their Sputnik satellite. President Kennedy had to keep morale and support for the Space Race afloat when the American public question the purpose, necessity and budget for the en- devour”(Herbert 7). Herbert also adds a quote from one of President John F. Kennedy’s speeches after he states, “On September 12th, 1962 at Rice Stadium, President John F. Kennedy gave one of his most famous speeches ever given”. Herbert then states what John F. Kennedy articulates towards the end of his speech, ‘“Well, space is there, and we’re going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there”’(Herbert 2). Bill Dietrich remarks about the legacy that The Space Race has given us in present times as he questions, “What has the Space Race accomplished?”, he then continues on his question, “Will future historians someday link the demise of the Soviet Union to its launch of Sputnik?”(Dietrich 1). Dietrich answers these two questions later in his article by

“Now is the time...for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth.” This quote from John F. Kennedy expresses his belief on the future impact that the space race will have on Earth, and now we can see that his prediction was correct. Although, his prediction is not the only effect of the space race on the rest of humanity. The demand for space exploration has grown and evolved from the Space Race, which in turn has also sparked new advances in multiple fields of science and changed our society now and in the future.

Space exploration needs to start happening again because the US is starting to fall behind other countries such as Russia and India. Neil Degrasse Tyson says in his book, Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier, “The Soviets sent the first multi-person crew and the first international crew into orbit. They made the first spacewalk, launched the first space station, and were the first to put a manned space station into long-term orbit” (Tyson 122). The Soviets beat the US to everything other than the moon. The Space Race was a competition between mainly the US and Russia. Neil Degrasse Tyson says in his book, Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier, “the USSR held that high ground until 1969, when, courtesy of von Braun and colleagues,

The Space race was a very important factor in the 1950ś one of the most important factors was Neil Armstrong he was the first man to lay foot on the moon. Also astronaut Neil Armstrong developed a obsession with flight at an early age. And he got his pilot license at age 16. Armstrong joined the NACA in 1955, Armstrong was an engineer, test pilot, astronaut and administrator for NACA and its successor agency,

In conclusion, the government needs to remain the use of its space program.There are many jobs in the space program. Eventually the basic necessities like food, water, and a place to live will be hard to come by. For the amount of pollution that is on the planet, the population does not have many options when thinking about how will future generations survive. As well as

Abstract: Life on our planet requires fresh water. According to WHO, water scarcity affects roughly one-third of the world’s population, and approximately 2.3 billion people. The World Water Council states that this water crisis will become more acute over the next fifty years as the world population increases. Yet, water covers nearly three quarters of our planet -- 97.5% of this water is saltwater. Therefore, a practical, economically viable desalination process is crucial to overcoming this crisis. A number of seawater desalination technologies have been developed during the last several decades to augment the supply of water in arid regions of the world. Due to the constraints of high desalination costs, many countries are unable to afford these technologies as a fresh water resource. However, the steady increasing usage of seawater desalination has demonstrated that seawater desalination is a feasible water resource free from the variations in rainfall. A seawater desalination process separates saline seawater into two streams: a fresh water stream containing a low

Humans have always been interested in space and the wonder in which it may hold. In the past, humans worshiped the stars as if they were gods while also studying their position to give them guidance for their lives. Their interested in space has fathered the desire to know more. Today, space has been seen by many as the new frontier or the home beyond earth. Society have even taken a step forward through the creation of stories in books and movies based of the idea of humans living in space and the present of alliances. Yet there is still controversy on the need to continue space exploration when our own planet has so many detrimental problems. There is an ongoing debate on whether not the money used for space travel could be better beneficially use for other causes. It is true that space exploration costs billions of dollars a year alone according to NASA current budget, which is constantly increasing. However, what many refuses to understand is that without space exploration many of the innovations that we have today would not have existed. While there have been, many failed attempts involving space exploration that has caused a tremendous amount of money to go down the drain. However, many people fail to realize the benefits of space exploration and the possible future it may

Water is the world’s most natural resource and without it there would be no life on earth. Nature limits our available supply of water. Virtually all of human uses require fresh water. 97% of the Earth’s water is salt water and only 2.5% is fresh water of which over two thirds is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. The unfrozen freshwater is mainly ground water with only a fraction on the surface. Fresh water is a renewable resource but the world usage of clean water is resulting in a steadily decreasing supply. There is a process know as Desalination which is an artificial process by which saline water (sea water) is converted into fresh water. This process is known as reverse osmosis.