As we look up into the night sky
Dec 6th, 2010 by kevinhung
On October 10, 2010, Virgin Galactic had its first successful sub-orbital flight. This marks another milestone for human in the space exploration. Not only will it serve commercially but also provide support to “agency exploration, science and aeronautics mission” for NASA. Reference. NASA will also rely on Virgin Galactic to provide transportation to the International Space Station (ISS) as NASA sets its aim on more wondrous missions. Earlier this year, the US congress has granted NASA over $100 billion US to support its mission for the next 5 years. NASA BUDGET
There are more urgent problems that the US government is facing at the present such a health care, national defense, and financial crisis. Moreover, nearly 1 billion people in Africa are without access to safe drinking water. Is it ethical for the US government to be allocating such an significant amount of money into the space program? Perhaps the answer is Yes which might be a surprise to many people. Stephen Hawking, Physics Nobel Prize recipient, stated that “the human race will not survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space since there are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet. But I’m an optimist. We will reach out to the stars.” If humans continue to destroy the Earth, one day Earth will no longer be able to sustain life. Without the space program, we will not have the ability to deal with it when that day comes.