We Send Men Into Space Exploration By Lawrence Krausse

Scientific Capability.” (Tennessean) People today are not as excited about going to other places in space. Human space travel has been stunted by recent political changes in America. With that, the people that actually want to go to other places in space mainly want to see humans go somewhere new. Some people want other things to go in place of humans. “Unlike robots, only people have the intelligence and expert knowledge needed to unravel these mysteries.” (Mindell) If humans don’t go to other places in the solar system, this takes away the experience and awe of knowing that people can go to amazing places like the moon and Mars. While I think robots and technology should be used in exploration of space. I think it’s important to keep the human element involved directly. So people can see that nothing is quite impossible.

In “Let Robots Take to the Stars” by Eiren Caffal, this article proves the claim that society should not send humans to space. One reason why humans should not go to space is because it is very expensive. For example, “Space travel is extremely expensive”. To get humans to Mars, it will take $1 trillion over a 25-year period” (Caffal 287). This quote illustrates that not only will it be very expensive, it will also take a long time.

“The Real Reason We Explore Space” is an article written by a former NASA worker in which he states reasons why he feels the need

To go to space, there are many tools required, and to say the least, it is exceedingly expensive. Source C exhibits charts displaying what the Federal Government spends money on and how much money they spend. Space and technology fall under the category of “Other” which is only 6%. This is very reasonable. Functions like health, medicare, social security and national defense should all come before anything else.

President John F. Kennedy, in an address to Congress in 1961, said “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth” (“Excerpt from an Address”). He inspired people to push the limits of what was possible, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) finally completed his challenge eight years later. The financial burden of such space programs was balanced by an intense desire to learn and discover, which led to advancements across all areas of life. Today, in a time of federal financial struggles, some are calling for an end to NASA’s expensive programs. However, the United States should continue to fund them

It is not true that human space travel is cheaper in any sense; life support systems, places to sleep and work, manual control systems all take up room, and most importantly, cost fuel. However, when it comes to planetary exploration, humans can get the job done better. They adapt to the situations they’re put into. A robot can only do everything it was told it was supposed to do, but programmer bound to the Earth will only think to program so many things, even if they are very thorough. Robots movements encompass a narrow set of navigable terrains whereas a human with mobility equipment can explore much further to garner samples or collect data (Crawford). A human can also think on their feet, which is essential in many mission scenarios. Far from the earth, where communication is severely limited by the distances involved, robots lag the humans watching. Events that occur for only a few minutes, like storms and novel hazards like rockslides or avalanches, may be completely missed by a rover and can even compromise the mission. When delay inhibits data collection and the safety of crucial components, this is where on-site humans can shine. Specifically, Crawford (2010) outlines five areas where human travel is necessary, which for brevity has been condensed into four. The focus is mainly on why humans are essential for these types of missions.

With only roughly $10 of the annual personal income tax going to NASA, it's a wonder how they make due with such a smaller budget. (1) President JFK had made it clear that he wanted them to do such a task before the end of the decade and they delivered on that. Now, it today's world, space travel is becoming more and more like it might be the new way to get around, similar how airports and airplanes helped change that as well. The one issue is that they can't do that or even help other countries, who have a much stronger space program, work on new ways to make such a thing possible. More recently, to get astronauts from the United States to the ISS, NASA has had to rely on the Russians to take them aboard their shuttles and up to the station. That says a lot when we were able to step foot on the moon and come back to tell the tale. Yet somehow the percentage of funding that they do receive is still too much for some to think that they get. How is NASA supposed to keep delivering on new ideas and inventions when they have to focus on how to get the astronauts into space? Well in truth, they can't. They have to focus on getting

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.

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

Space exploration is hard and is costs an arm and a leg. But he continues to ask the audience “why do we climb the highest mountain? Why fly across the Atlantic?” He says “We go to the moon in this decade, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.

The only reason that humans were ever sent into space in the first place was because of the Cold War. The spirit of competition was productive in getting space programs across the globe off the ground, but this feeling quickly died off after the war ended. There was a sense of ambitiousness that realistically could not be maintained for much longer, as space exploration moved into a phase of slow and steady advancements. So was there any real practicality to sending humans into space in the first place? Maybe, but the only reason sending humans into space was close to practical was because the technology of the 1960s could not produce robotic devices that were as reliable as humans.

To conclude my argument I can definitely say that space exploration is worth the cost. It generates wealth for America and can broaden the knowledge of many people across the country. As Kennedy said in his speech, “...we shall climb this wall with safety and speed and we shall explore the wonders on the other side.” With all the progress that has been made, humans can decide that space is indeed a

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

Carl Sagan once said “every planetary civilization will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring--not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive... If our long-term survival is at stake, we have a basic responsibility to our species to venture to other worlds.” The National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA, is executing Sagan’s words every day. President Dwight D. Eisenhower created NASA in 1958 with the purpose of peaceful rather than military space exploration and research to contribute to society. Just 11 years after the creation, NASA put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon, the first humans to

Mankind has always been fascinated with exploring the unknown. From sailing to distant lands to someday setting foot on other planets, the spirit of exploration is the same. Bur now with the current economic situation and the high cost of sending people to space, NASA is being looked at as a way to free up some much needed funds. Although, there is many problems here on planet Earth that need addressing, the benefits of space exploration far out weight the disadvantages. Space exploration has given us more advanced technology, advances in the medical field, and a boost to the economy and these facts cannot be disputed.