Do you believe manned space exploration should continue?

The shuttle program is ending, but that opens new doors for other types of programs using differents space crafts and fuels.

My solid opinion is that I think it costs to much just to launch a shuttle.

I don’t think we should be in space, there so many problems here on earth on our own ground that these billions could be spent on (ie poverty,health care,environmentaly friendly energy, etc etc).

We owe a lot of today’s technology to space programs that most people would not imaging living without.

@seVen: So if we ceased space exploration, would all of those problems be solved? Even in the slightest? Can they even be solved at all?

I think that space exploration is one of the few human endeavours that we can genuinely be proud of, and it would be a shame for the programmes to be collapsed.

Nope.

@richardhenry what about exploring the deep sea? We have not completely finished that and its way closer and less costly than space I bet.

@seven deep sea exploration won’t provide satellite tv, or cell phones, or accurate weather forecast…etc

Does NASA need to be revamped? Probably. They seem hugely inefficient.

With robots and unmanned vehicles able to carry out much of the exploratory functions, I’d say manned space exploration is likely unnecessary and that humans should hang back until it’s time for a colonization.

Manned space flight, however, should certainly continue and regardless of our thoughts on the matter is sure to continue via private enterprise and space tourism. These efforts have already reduced the cost and energy required to put a person into space. Also, manned space flight is nearly a requirement for scientific research to continue.

@notreallyhere it might not create as cool things as done by NASA but there might be other useful technologies coming out of it as well (ie cars that could travel from one continent to another using hydro jetpower or something more). Unless we won’t try it we’ll never know.

There all important, but i think that if we stop now all this lives and money invested we’ll be wasted.

Well, seVen, not to degrade your answer but that sounds a little cartoonish for me. I know it’s a suggestion but isn’t that a tinybit farfetched?

@Wizard Not if you look at all the things that have come from pure research to date. Among them: radar, rocket propulsion, a protein that helped address untreatable childhood leukemias discovered while a scientist studied the three-dimensional pattern formation of fruit fly wings, a way to block the communication between brain cells that triggers drug cravings, a finding that could potentially lead to new therapies to treat addiction and relapse as well as compulsive behaviors associated with schizophrenia, a discovery that mutations in neurexins and neuroligins appear to cause autism in a small number of cases, the formation of QLT and the development of Visudyne™, a treatment for age-related blindness that has been used to treat more than half a million people and is now available in more than 70 countries and countless others.

I think that our sense of wonder and our endless curiosity are what have allowed us to develop and evolve at the unprecedented rate that we have. If we lose those features, I think we lose the best parts of our humanity. The exploration of space is one the leading edge research topics that creates excitement and joy.

Marina as always I enjoy your inputs

technology has been good for our species. but don’t you see space exploration as a means to ensure to continuation of life?

send things into space. Learn. Be proud. It is our “backyard” it is also a good distraction from primitive human life. (I enjoy human life)

Never. There are few things in this world that should not be researched. Space is not one of those things. The search for knowledge must always continue

Exploration is part of what makes us human. Why dehumanize it?

Yay for steelmarket. I completely agree.

I agree with most of the affirmative responses so far. I also think we must continue manned space flight for the simple reason that one day this planet will not be able to support us any longer. Whether that is of our doing or the result of an asteroid impact or even the sun burning out.

I believe we should continue manned space flight. If we don’t, my dreams and goals will be useless and I won’t know what to do with my life. That may seem selfish, but everyone else has already said all the non selfish reasons so there you go.
Think of the day that man landed on the moon – the whole world stopped and looked, and congratulated each other. I think it’s a way for nations to create healthy rivalry that therefore produces more research and knowledge, or for them to work together and compile their research and knowledge. Instead of having an American NASA, we should create an international administration. That way, the costs would be shared and the countries could use the other money for other things.

yes from so many different angles. Exploration has existed since “forever” and has been productive… Just look at the Americas. It increases business. It brings new science up to speed. It fufills our curiosity as humans.

Space exploration program should definitely continue

First because a lot of today’s technology is based on what was developed during space program.

Second:Earth’s not forever. At some point in the future this planet will disappear and assuming that the human kind will still exist at that point,it will be very important for humans to have the necessary technology to leave the planet and move to another.

Third:Finding extraterrestrial life is another very good goal to achieve

The reasons aren’t necessary in order.
I’m sure that exists more than this 3 reasons,but this is what I had in mind.