    "Space the final frontier" (Kirk). Space is truly the final frontier, every piece of land, almost every inch of ocean has already been explored, mapped and conquered by the different countries. The last place that is truly unknown is in the depths of space, each planet holds secret treasures that can be extracted and used here on earth. In the words of JFK , 'man, in his quest for knowledge and progress is determined, and cannot be detoured, the exploration will go ahead whether we join in it or not'. Space exploration is the only way to satisfy this quest for information, and it is important for the future of the human race, which means that it should be one of Americas top priorities.

    Space the final frontier, Man and his quest for knowledge has been around since their creation, but since nearly all of the earth has been discovered it is time to look to the stars to find fortune and fame. The origins of space travel can be traced back to world war II and long distance missiles.  The international consensus for the start of space and the end of Earth's atmosphere is 100km (62 miles) and in the1930's,  "London was attacked by 200-mile-range V-2 missiles, which arched 60 miles high " (A Brief History Of Space Exploration). It is amazing to think that over 75 years ago Germany was able to enter 'space'. 

    "Dwight D. Eisenhower approved the first U.S. space mission in 1955" (Erika Vick)it was for a satellite that would be launched a few years later. Then came the cold war and the space race, "On Oct. 4, 1957, Sputnik 1 successfully launched and entered Earth's orbit. Thus, began the space age" (NASA). The USA was not going to be shown up by the USSR, so a short year later the USA launched Explorer 1, the satellite that was approved by Eisenhower . Both sides wanted to show their superior technologies in an effort to win the war. The USA essentially won the race in 1969 when a three manned crew launched into space and set a course for the moon. "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth" (JFK), This was the goal set John F. Kennedy in 1961. JFK was arguably the most devoted president towards the idea of space exploration,  during the cold war he did not view it as a competition,  "why should man's first flight to the moon be a matter of national competition?"( John M. Logsdon), but rather a "way to solve these mysteries [of space] for the good of all men"(JFK eternal speech). He believed that everyone should benefit in the knowledge gained from space. After JFK died The countries ambitions toward space sort of died down with the installation of the new presidents. 

    Nothing ever came close to the moon landing in terms of difficulty or comparability, NASA was still active through the years sending satellites into orbit and testing new technologies like the iconic space shuttle. It has not been all good for NASA, 2 of the worst accidents happened in 1989, and in 2003. The Challenger shuttle and the Columbia shuttle both exploded, the first was shortly after liftoff and the second was during reentry.  Making any piece reusable can severely reduce the costs, the Apollo moon landing budget was about 25 billion dollar and the all of the pieces were unusable and or unrecoverable. That is why NASA and private companies are working towards making space travel safer and cheaper. Today space exploration is at a standstill because it is not of the same importance that it once was some 50 years ago. That doesn't mean that there is no progress being made in the field, like I said companies like NASA and SpaceX are trying to make space travel more affordable and safer so that in the future they will not repeat the mishaps of the past. In 2018 the James Webb telescope will be launched to replace the Hubble telescope, it is much more powerful and advanced and will allow for deeper space observability. Also, NASA is conducting something called Orion, it is a mission to send the first humans to mars, as of now it is still in the testing phase and will not launch until sometime in 2026. They have the hopes of setting up a research facility on the surface that is fully self-sustaining in order to learn more about other worlds and other scientific research. 

    What the distant future holds for the space program is anyone's guess, it depends on how the country and more importantly the president feels about the space program. Progress cannot come without funding from the government, and government funding cannot come without having money to spare. The US debt is over 19 trillion dollars and that affects what the government does with the money, in the future the US might not be in a better economic situation which could result in more funding thus faster progress. The country could also go bankrupt and that would completely end the space program. Regardless the future will either make or break space exploration, the journey to mars could completely fail or yield poor result making people wonder if it is really worth it.

    "From urban centers to remote corners of Earth, the depths of the oceans to space, humanity has always sought to transcend barriers, overcome challenges, and create opportunities that improve life in our part of the universe" (Grand Challenges). In a world of 7 billion people it is hard to find something that everyone believes in, however in the world of engineering, a list of 14 challenges has been formed. Among these world improvements is engineering tools for scientific discovery, this means creating tools for space exploration. People need to recognize that space has much more to offer in terms of wealth, and knowledge. "We only understand a small percentage of all the matter and energy in the cosmos (Grand Challenges)". This fact opens up many opportunities for space exploration, and other fields such as physics. Unlocking the secrets of the universe will lead to better technologies, but in order to learn these secrets, the universe first must be explored.

    Speaking of exploration, NASA recently discovered that liquid water flows on the surface of Mars, "New findings from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars" (Gina Anderson, 1). The fact that other planets contain water then that means that they can also support life, human life and or alien life. This allows for the possibility of research bases or even colonies that would be dedicated the study of Mars and other research to aid in the harsh environment of space. Water is a priceless commodity that is disappearing faster each year NASA has plans to occupy Mars  with this goal in mind: "We pioneer space to discover life, identify resources, foster economic growth, inspire and educate, protect ourselves from space-based threats, and leave a better future for the next generation" (Journey to Mars). There are many possibilities for returns in space, things like resources; there is water on mars and it may not be drinkable but it can be cleaned and sent back to earth for use; there could be, and most likely is, elements like iron, copper, gold, which could be refined and repurposed; most important of all, knowledge, technologies that are the consequence of developing space exploration can be repurposed here on earth.  

    Have you ever used a GPS or slept on a memory foam mattress? If so then NASA technology has touched your life in some way. NASA had a hand in making countless technologies, there is a website that is dedicated to such technologies. The site includes 40 years of documented 'spinoffs' that were inspired by "NASA technology or expertise"(NASA Spinoff). Some are "are entrepreneurial endeavors by ex-NASA employees whose technical expertise was developed while employed by the agency" or "were designed for NASA use, to NASA specifications, and then commercialized" (NASA Spinoff). The reasons are endless but the one thing that they all have in common are that they were all because of NASA. Hundreds if not thousands of inventions, and improvements of everyday items were made possible because of space exploration."Now, we are also seeing direct tangible benefits from the research being conducted on the International Space Station"( Ron Garan)

    The international space station (ISS) is basically a floating laboratory 250 miles above sea level in what is known as low earth orbit. "The ISS provides a unique environment for scientific discovery that simply cannot be duplicated anywhere on Earth"(Ron Garan). The experiments that are conducted can include anything from biology to physics, these experiments benefit the future of space exploration and also the future of medicines, better understanding diseases, and  ailments. "For example, space based science offers an environment to foster new materials, better medicines, improved methods to provide clean water, and better ways to grow enough food to feed our increasing global population"(Mark Garcia). The lack of gravity in space can have severe consequences on the human body over a long period of time, the "human body would lose considerable bone and muscle mass" (Gareth Dorrian). It is important for astronauts to stay active to combat lack of gravity, and this has lead to studies on the human body that "may lead to improvements in the treatment of osteoporosis"(Gareth Dorrian). All of these success have not come with their share of failures.

    In the technological age of today the potential for rewards far outweigh the risks. "Future space launch systems will be designed to reduce costs and improve dependability, safety, and reliability"(A Brief History Of Space Exploration). The only problem is that achieving this goal is extremely difficult, there are many factors that go into the launching of a rocket and also being able to keep a space station self-sustaining. That is why companies like NASA and SpaceX  have "been at work on better, and cheaper, ways to search space for answers"(Grand Challenges). Safety and versatility are the main concern when constructing and conducting spaceships, anything that can go wrong will, unless proper precautions are put in place to combat hazards.

    Getting an object that weighs hundreds of tons and filled with highly explosive liquid into space is no simple task, like I have said, there are so many variables that go into the building, setup, and launching of a shuttle into space. Something as small or insignificant or just overlooked can lead to disastrous effects, "Within instants, the spacecraft broke apart and plunged into the ocean, killing its entire crew, traumatizing the nation and throwing NASA's shuttle program into turmoil" (Challenger Disaster). The Challenger was the first, but sadly not the last, fatal mission for the USA space program, killing its 7 crew members seconds after launch. Something as simple as the temperature can cause years of progress to be for nothing. It is instances like the challenger and the Columbia disasters where it shows it is about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. If the whole space program was shut down because of this one instance then those 7 people would have died for nothing, making mistakes is the best way to make sure that they are never made again.

It is no secret that space travel is dangerous, there are so many things that can go wrong, like with the Challenger, the least technical piece of the space shuttle caused it to explode. Out of hundreds of launches that NASA conducted only a handful of them resulted in failure and out of those only three were manned. The fate of the Challenger and Columbia present good reasons not to go into space such as, "NASA managers were aware of these design problems but also failed to take action"(Challenger Disaster) and "This problem with foam had been known for years"(Elizabeth Howell). If the people who work there do not care about safety then how can accidents be prevented in the future? That was the first mission that resulted in fatalities, and it was because of carelessness. An administration like NASA cannot afford to fail because of  all the time and money that is put into the projects that they undertake, in the event that they do like in the case of the challenger serious reform would be brought about. An investigation that was conducted found that the managers ignored warnings which made them liable, they cost NASA billions of dollars and the lives of the astronauts so they were most likely fired. NASA also ceased operations, "After the accident, NASA refrained from sending astronauts into space for more than two years as it redesigned a number of the shuttle's features". Like it says NASA took the time to fix the problem and then some in order to prevent future losses. The challenger accident happened over 27 years ago and the Columbia over 9 years, these disasters are outdated, the technologies, experience, and knowledge have increased over the 27 year difference from the Challenger and 9 from the Columbia. Now NASA conducts countless tests to ensure that everything goes smoothly because in the event that something fails they might disappear forever. If you thought that lift off was the hardest part then wait until you get into outer space.

       In space there are things called 'High-Charge and High-Energy particles', they come from "radiation fields in the cosmic environment" such as, "the ionizing radiation environment in deep space is dynamic and primarily consists of protons, helium, and high atomic number and high-energy" (Li et al.1501). To my understanding, these particles come mainly, if not solely, from the sun. The fusion reactions that produce the heat that is felt on earth consists of these high energy particles, however, the harmful ones are deflected from the Earth's magnetic field. In deep space there are no fields to protect the astronauts from which means that they would have prolonged exposure to these particles resulting in some forms of cancer and possibly death. Things such as solar flares cause an influx of these particles to be thrown into space and if there was anyone that would be orbiting the earth at the time where a solar flare was directed towards earth that person would most likely die.  The particles have high charges which means the charge on the nucleus is around the same as the number of protons, so the particle is very positive. "Absorption of ionizing radiation by living cells directly disrupts atomic structures, producing chemical and biological changes and indirectly through radiolysis of cellular water and generation of reactive chemical species by stimulation of oxidizes and nitric oxide syntheses. Ionizing radiation may also disrupt mitochondrial functions significantly contributing to short- and long-term effects leading to persistent alterations in lipids, proteins, nDNA, and mtDNA"  (Li et al.1503). This quote basically describes what happens when these particles reach living tissue, they go so fast and are so small that they cause damage on a cellular level, ripping through DNA and cells which lead types of cancer.

    It is important to consider the value of information, after all knowledge is power, not just authoritative power, but the ability to do good for others through scientific and technological advances. Space technologies and findings have the potential to benefit the world which is why it should be held to a higher standard than it is. NASA is only 58 years old and has contributed a lot in those past years, and being in the technological era of today there is no end to what they can do. Look how far mobile phones have come in the past 10 years. In another 10 years there will actually be people on mars and who knows what will come next.

