Space Exploration - the desire to chart the unknown

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Discursive Essay

Space Exploration

The Cold War surprisingly started the beginning of something that would some would argue should be stepped up and others believe it is not needed. Space exploration is a topic of discussion, expensive but needed to solve our curiosity of other planets, life and space in general. It has given us new technology but of which could possibly have been made from other projects on Earth, but is needed to find new resources as the Earths own runs out.

        The cost involved in space exploration is the main argument against its need. During the Cold War space exploration was at its peak. The Russian launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, and the first human in space, Yuri Gargarin. Led to the USA making the first moon landing and both superpowers investing massive amounts of money in order to compete in what was called the ‘space race’. The money thrown at the space programs by the governments of both countries at the time was not questioned, as they were at war. The ‘space race’ allowed both countries to challenge each other in a different way. Not to go to war fighting each other in space, but to use space exploration as a way of fighting each other through space, by trying to develop the knowledge to build inter-continental ballistic missiles. The first to do this would have a serious deterrent or threatening way of attacking. The ‘space race’ was also a way of showing off each other’s scientific achievements and capabilities. However the Cold War has finished and the money given to space agencies has lowered. Almost completely diminished in Russia’s case. It remains though that the American space agency, NASA still spends millions of dollars each year on development, as with other space agencies around the world. This has led to the question, should we still plough money into space exploration or is it so unpractical that the money would be better spent on things concerning our own planet.

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        A clear point against space exploration is how the money involved in sending a probe for example to another planet could be used to save lives on Earth. Billions of people on our planet live in poverty or famine and are surrounded by life threatening diseases. Many people would say the space exploration is a luxury that is not needed, wasting valuable money on something which is just to sustain our curiosity. Believing our desire for knowledge is blinding the fundamental problems with our own race that could be solved with the money from space programs. Some would prefer to ...

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