Blog Post #10

My topic is on space exploration with a focus on aspects like funding and relevance. When I started out researching, I was too focused with my topic and it turned out to be a major complication. After revising my topic, the outcome lead to space exploration but because I had already researched deeper in on certain things, it didn’t feel like I was starting over, more so just taking a step back. The wonders of space have captivated the interest of individuals for a very long time and in astronomical terms, we have been able to make great accomplishments within space for only a short period of that time. Space exploration got big in the ’50s when the United States and the Soviet Union went into the “space race.” Although it was more of a competition between the rivals, it turned into a fascination for understanding space to the public’s eye. After the space race, it seems as though peoples enthusiasm for space ended, sure kids wanted to be astronauts and spacemen when they grew up, but when they did finally grow up, it seemed like space had lost its touch. From the 2000s to today it feels like space exploration has lost its touch and is not relevant to everyday life. This makes me ask the question, is space exploration really needed anymore and if so, should we be funding it? One standpoint I found says that we should continue to fund NASA and keep exploring space because you never know what will be found in the future. It is agreed that funding should continue because, in the scheme of things, NASA isn’t receiving as much funding as the average ignorant person on the subject thinks. Another idea is that we should stop funding NASA and their projects because it seems like there have been little astronomical discoveries lately pressing the thought that there are better things to spend money funding. The last argument I came across was that certain aspects of space exploration should be funded and others should be set aside and abandoned. All of these groups of ideas have good points but also downfalls like, if we stop now, we could be stopping the discovery of how the universe really did come into existence or the possibility that there are other life forms out there. There could also be a problem with “half-funding” as one discovery might rely on something that has been cut out of the budget. All these things need to be taken into consideration when writing my essay and I intend to elaborate and find the best research that I can.