After switching my topic to space exploration aspects, I am finding it a lot easier to access points of view and counterexamples to my essay. The first source I found was
https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/whyweexplore/Why_We_03_pt1.html
Because I altered my topic, It was a lot easier to find viewpoints that strain my topic. This made me really excited because it is what I was having troubles within my first idea. Since I can now find these counterexamples, my search words were “space exploration repercussions.” This NASA article popped up and I think it will help with my essay pretty well because it goes through all the consequences of space exploration and includes what has happened in past missions. I think NASA is pretty credible because it uses legitimate science and evidence based on credible scientific sourcing. NASA is unbiased and does not use emotional words and listens to the consensus of experts in the given scientific field and publish peer-reviewed science. Some sources in this category may have a slight political bias but stick to scientific principles.
My second source was
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/space-exploration-and-us-competitiveness
I want to use this source in my essay because, in it, it talks about funding and how much NASA actually spends or had to spend. I think it is pretty interesting to see the percentages and graphs of this because we estimate the cost to be much higher than it is. This source is from the Council on Foreign Relations. Upon looking the organization up, I found out that it is a US nonprofit think tank that specializes in US foreign policy and international affairs. On their “about” page, it says “CFR takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.” This seems to make them credible but at the same time, these sites may not live up to the word.
My last source was
https://news.utexas.edu/2015/10/19/continued-support-of-space-exploration-is-a-must/
This .edu really helped me because it was an article on opinion. If America does not fund space exploration, we will not succeed. The very beginning statement is “Exploration is at the core of the American spirit, and public support for NASA’s voyages of exploration has never wavered while political support has been bipartisan… we must continue to lead the world in discovery and continue to robustly fund the space program.” Because it is a school (the University of Texas at Austin), it seems pretty credible to start off and it definitely helps that they have a huge budget for just one school year. on the other hand, they provide public access to a first-class education and the tools of discovery which is great but makes it a little less credible because it is a public college. If this school was private, the acceptance rate would be lower and seem more credible. But, just because of that, it does not make the school not credible.
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