What is the easiest thing to cut from the Governmental budget? I would imagine giving the ax to NASA would be a quick way to free up a few billion dollars. And I hear people talk all the time about how we don't need to be exploring space. What is the point? What will we get? Is there an advantage to space exploration?
NASA is easy to criticize, but I believe that space travel serves a great purpose for humans. It pushes technology and science forward. Think about the satellites that allow our cellphones to place calls from all over the Earth and allow us to track our position to incredible accuracy.
I am fascinated by space exploration and I hope we continue with vigor. There may be little practical use to finding proof of extinct, microbial, life on Mars but if we find it, I hope it is during my lifetime. We, as a race, must eventually leave Earth. Our star will burn out, expanding, as it looses fuel, to engulf the planets Mercury and Venus, indeed maybe even Earth itself. Space travel is a requirement for our continued existence. Maybe not an immediate one, but a requirement none the less. I hope to see as much of space exploration as possible.
We are so unbelievably insignificant on the cosmic scale, I'm forever humbled. But we have made some progress exploring our universe, starting with landing on the Moon. Now Google has added the Moon to its Google Earth program. You can explore the lunar surface and the landing sites of the Apollo missions. Also included in the program is Mars. I suggest everyone take a look, it is a lot of fun to explore their surfaces.
Explore the Moon.
Google Earth.
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