Why Explore Space

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Why Explore Space

M. D. Griffin

As NASA resumes flights of the space shuttle to finish building the International Space Station (ISS), many question whether the project is worth the risk and expense. This issue was addressed in the report of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, which examined the 2003 loss of the shuttle and its crew. That report pointed out that for the forseeable future, space travel will be expensive, difficult and dangerous. However, for the U.S. it is strategic. It contributes to the making of the nation. Then-President Bush responded to the Columbia report and concluded that we needed to do more and to go further. The result was the Vision for Space Exploration which commits the U.S. to using the shuttle to complete the space station, then retiring the shuttle and building a new generation of spacecraft to venture out into the solar system. NASA is moving forward with a new focus for the manned space program: to go beyond Earth orbit for purposes of human exploration and scientific discovery. And the ISS is part of this plan, as opposed to being the end of the line. The space station will teach us how to live and work in space and learn how to build hardware that can survive and function for the years required to make the round-trip voyage from Earth to Mars. Throughout history, the great nations have been the ones at the forefront of the frontiers of their time. For the next generations, that frontier will be space. This author proposes that America should look to the future and take note of what it will look like if we choose not to be a spacefaring nation.