The Pros And Cons Of NASA

What is known about our universe is limited. Humans are constantly seeking to push past these limitations without realizing that it is also us, humans, who put them there. In order to learn to overcome these obstacles and figure out how to dip our toes into the pool of knowledge full of answers we desperately seek, space agencies were created. The most well known and credible space agency, till this date, is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA). It is a government-owned agency, meaning that its funding comes from taxpayer money. This also means that the amount of things that can be accomplished to further our comprehension about space exploration is limited by the cost to pursue these actions. NASA’s budget for the current …show more content…
Private space agencies are on the rise due to the fact that most of them tend to pursue projects that public agencies, like NASA, are not planning to focus on in the near future. One of the main examples concerning this issue is commercial space travel. The idea sounds really cool, but there are many dangers that come with it. Although it is a very expensive luxury, that few can afford, curiosity and excitement will help make this industry boom. The downside is that the little training that the passengers will receive compared to trained astronauts, will not prepare them if any malfunctions or even fatal results are to occur. Even if no lives were seriously injured, billion dollar lawsuits are bound to happen, which could weaken or possibly destroy the space industry as a whole. Another problem with this statement is that private agencies tend to over-promise a lot of the time. Mars One, a non-profit organization, is currently the leader in pursuing the long-awaited trip to the red planet, Mars. In their first press release about this project, Mars One stated that they hope to establish a human settlement on Mars by the year 2023, which later changed to 2025(Mars One Will Settle Men on Mars in 2023 1). Whereas, NASA states that they hope to develop the capabilities to send humans to Mars by the year 2030 (Daines 1). Although NASA’s goal is 5 years after the goal of Mars One, the extra time is needed to further develop strategies and think of every possible situation that could occur during this trip, and how it could be fixed. NASA hasn’t even sent a human to the moon since December 11, 1972, and the moon is only 384 thousand kilometers from earth, whereas Mars is 54.6 million kilometers away from earth at its closest. There also needs to be much more