Josh's blog

“

Why bother with human spaceflight, when robots do such a good job and do it so much more cheaply? Proponents of human spaceflight argue that only humans have the supple physical coordination and mental agility to get the most from an expedition. But the most compelling argument for human spaceflight may remain the one that worked at the beginning. Space exploration is ultimately about human dreams.

The United States owned the Louisiana Purchase as soon as Thomas Jefferson bought it from the French, but the first thing he did was send Lewis and Clark to walk the property. It isn’t really yours until you’ve been there, say advocates of human space exploration. “I do not see any need at all to justify human spaceflight on the grounds of what it’s going to do for science. It will do a lot for science, but that’s an ‘oh, by the way,’” [former NASA administrator] Griffin says. “The drive to extend our reach—human destiny—is reason enough to go.”

”

“ I am 100 percent committed to the mission of NASA and its future. Because broadening our capabilities in space will continue to serve our society in ways that we can scarcely imagine. Because exploration will once more inspire wonder in a new generation — sparking passions and launching careers. And because, ultimately, if we fail to press forward in the pursuit of discovery, we are ceding our future and we are ceding that essential element of the American character. ”