Aaron McNamara

Mr. Kerner

04/17/13

Space Exploration

The space age began as a race for security and prestige between two superpowers. The opportunities were boundless, and the decades that followed have seen a radical transformation in the way we live our daily lives, in large part due to our use of space. Space systems have taken us to other celestial bodies and extended humankind’s horizons back in time to the very first moments of the universe and out to the galaxies at its far reaches. Satellites contribute to increased transparency and stability among nations and provide a vital communications path for avoiding potential conflicts. Space systems increase our knowledge in many scientific fields, and life on Earth is far
I also encourage everyone to read The Case for Space Exploration, a collection of essays and articles put together by the Space Foundation.
As our telescopes probe the depths of space and time and our spacecraft missions reveal the scale and diversity of worlds even within our own solar system, we are provided with a humbling sense of our place in the universe. Carl Sagan expressed the significance of this perspective in a beautiful passage in his book Pale Blue Dot. You can also listen to Sagan himself read the passage in this video clip. The world would be a better place if everyone watched that video.
2. Protecting and Understanding our World - * NASA’s Earth Science division helps us understand the fantastically complex world that we live on. * Studying other worlds like Venus and Mars teaches us how special our planet is, and provides sobering examples of how the climates of planets can change. * NASA-funded research scans the skies for dangerous asteroids, and missions to asteroids teach us how we might be able to divert them from a collision course, should the need arise.
The Apollo missions inspired an entire generation of students to pursue math and science careers. As our society becomes more technology-dependent, the populace needs to become scientifically literate to keep up. Telling students that “You could be the first astronaut on Mars!” or “You could be the one driving the next Mars rovers!” is a pretty effective way of