US can no longer afford to pay billions for space exploration
The famed quote, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” uttered by Neil Armstrong is beginning to look more like a step backward in the eyes of the public when put in context with the retiring shuttle program. As the space shuttle Atlantis made its final voyage to the International Space Station last week and the NASA Space Shuttle program approaches the end of the line, people are starting to wonder if this is the end of space exploration for the United States.
The United States made a risky move dissolving its reusable shuttle program, which now leaves a space travel monopoly in the hands of our historic space rivals — the Russians. In spite of this, I think that the benefits of retiring the space shuttle and coming up with a new approach far outweigh the hit to our pride.
The development and upkeep of the United States space shuttle has cost us $209.1 billion alone since its inception with each launch requiring $1.5 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Russians spend a meager $2 billion on their entire space program each year. The cost is extremely hard to justify to American taxpayers considering that NASA has not done anything historic lately and seems satisfied with spending billions to take rock samples, snap pictures and do a few scientific experiments. They have taken on such a complacent role over the past decade and continue to drown money on a monotonous routine that tarnishes what NASA originally stood for in the eyes of Americans. By allowing the United States to take a step back and come up with new ideas, maybe we can once again shoot for the stars.
The United States’ latest approach is to allow private aerospace companies to come up with solutions at a fraction of the cost. Companies like SpaceX have already begun to develop safer alternatives to the space shuttle that will hopefully lead to another heavyweight space title. In the meantime, the United States will have to use the Russians’ rockets as a taxi service to resupply our other costly venture — the International Space Station.
I understand that people are a little disgruntled by surrendering our space pursuit to the Russians, but the space shuttles had reached their capacity for exploration in the current economy. We all know how satisfying it is to know that we collectively, as Americans, had been the first to put humans on the moon. To continue making jaw-dropping discoveries, NASA needs time to create new methods of space transportation. Maybe this will allow Americans to one day broaden their horizons, literally, beyond the moon.
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