There is no better time for the United States to re-ignite its love affair with traveling the final frontier than the present. In the past few years, space has quietly recaptured the public eye, with sci-fi blockbusters like Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy and The Martian creating a generation of citizens entranced by the cosmos.
The United States has not had the same interest in space since the Challenger disaster, which happened thirty years ago this past Thursday. Our country should be honoring the lives of the heroes who passed in the disaster by a heightened pursuit into space. There is an incomprehensible amount of knowledge to be discovered beyond our atmosphere, and it is our duty as human beings to acquire it.
Polls by the Pew Research Center have found that Americans are in support of future endeavors into space, but are far less willing to foot the bill. Space travel is an incredibly expensive process, but it is not necessarily one that will be economically detrimental. 53 percent of Americans are strongly in support of the space program, and 63 percent of them are optimistic about future space travel. Despite this support, only 23 percent of Americans think more should be spent on space travel.
In recent years, companies like Bigelow Aerospace and SpaceX have led the charge into aerospace industry from the private sector into the public.
Space travel may seem like a money- losing venture in the short term, and it very well may be due to the incredible costs, but it will be worthwhile in the long term. The benefits of scientific discovery in space could very well have dramatic effects on quality of life on earth. There is also the potential for discovery of new and vital resources located on celestial bodies. The potential that the aerospace-industrial complex has is immense, and is worth the initial gambles necessary to get the program thriving.
In the current decade, the United States has only had three manned spaceflights. Not only has the U.S. stopped sending astronauts into space, but the Russian Space Program has also slowed down its rate of space travelers.
Space travel has traditionally been supported by the general populace, yet it still lacks the funding it needs. Steps need to be taken in order to increase the overall support so that the public will assist in funding. Work by both NASA and the private-sector space companies must be done to plan ahead. Fixed goals should be set in place, such as establishing a greater presence on the moon or Mars by a fixed date in time. With goals set for specific dates, the public will have something to believe in that their money is going to.
Astronauts also need to be hailed again as public figures, people to be idolized by citizens. Astronauts do incredible work, and if charismatic ones are put into the public eye, a generation of students could turn their future towards space, and strides into the cosmos will become even greater.
Corey Krajewski is Opinions Editor of the Bona Venture.
His email is krajewcj15@bonaventure.edu
