The Cancellation of Exploration: Bring Back the Funding for Domestic Space Exploration Space, the final frontier. For years, mankind gazed up at the stars, and dreamed of stepping onto the moon. On July 20, 1969, this dream became a reality (NASA, 2014). Neil Armstrong stepping foot on the moon was a bonding experience for most everyone in the country, or even the world. There are some events, like the crash of the challenger, or 9/11, where people know exactly where they were when that specific event occurred. The moon landing is one of those events. Families and neighbors gathered together to listen or watch as history was made. Everyone was awestruck as Armstrong took those first steps out of the shuttle and planted the
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No one wanted to invest money in something that might potentially blow up in their faces, both literally and physically. With the beginning of a recession and the ongoing wars in iraq, the funds in America were running low, and the public wished for money to be spent on things closer to home. Space research was seen as frivolous, and a luxury we could no longer afford (Canella, 2012). Both President Bush and President Obama came up with plans for how NASA should proceed. When President Obama’s plan was proposed, congress attempted to keep both plans in action, which was a mistake because NASA now had to split up what little funding it was receiving into two separate plans. President Obama’s plan was to shift NASA’s focus to deep-space exploration/travel (Ferster, 2012). NASA’s plan was referred to as the Constellation plan. Constellation was set to reach completion in 2015. The Purpose of Constellation was to develop and create new methods of space travel (Dowd, 2009). President Obama’s plan shut down the Constellation program in 2010. As of 2012, NASA is trying to find a way to improve the space shuttles and/or create an entirely different method of space travel (NASA, …show more content…
During the current economic times, I can understand this argument. Years ago, when the county had money to spare, no one had an issue with devoting billions of dollars to space research. Now, facing a great recession and economic hardships which mirror those of the 1920’s, which is to say that it is looking like the country may find itself in a second great depression, it is harder to convince the American people of the validity of space research (truthlamp, 2015). There are many benefits that humanity can reap as a whole due to continued space research. Such benefits include, but are not limited to, advances in healthcare, telemedicine and education (NASA, 2015). Previously, it may have been possible to learn all we needed to know solely based on the things we could find on earth, but it’s time for us to move on. We can learn so much more about the way the universe works if we broaden our field of study. It is unfair to deny scientific advances to the entire human race, based on the fears of the American
No one wanted to invest money in something that might potentially blow up in their faces, both literally and physically. With the beginning of a recession and the ongoing wars in iraq, the funds in America were running low, and the public wished for money to be spent on things closer to home. Space research was seen as frivolous, and a luxury we could no longer afford (Canella, 2012). Both President Bush and President Obama came up with plans for how NASA should proceed. When President Obama’s plan was proposed, congress attempted to keep both plans in action, which was a mistake because NASA now had to split up what little funding it was receiving into two separate plans. President Obama’s plan was to shift NASA’s focus to deep-space exploration/travel (Ferster, 2012). NASA’s plan was referred to as the Constellation plan. Constellation was set to reach completion in 2015. The Purpose of Constellation was to develop and create new methods of space travel (Dowd, 2009). President Obama’s plan shut down the Constellation program in 2010. As of 2012, NASA is trying to find a way to improve the space shuttles and/or create an entirely different method of space travel (NASA, …show more content…
During the current economic times, I can understand this argument. Years ago, when the county had money to spare, no one had an issue with devoting billions of dollars to space research. Now, facing a great recession and economic hardships which mirror those of the 1920’s, which is to say that it is looking like the country may find itself in a second great depression, it is harder to convince the American people of the validity of space research (truthlamp, 2015). There are many benefits that humanity can reap as a whole due to continued space research. Such benefits include, but are not limited to, advances in healthcare, telemedicine and education (NASA, 2015). Previously, it may have been possible to learn all we needed to know solely based on the things we could find on earth, but it’s time for us to move on. We can learn so much more about the way the universe works if we broaden our field of study. It is unfair to deny scientific advances to the entire human race, based on the fears of the American