It is easy to say that we should continue exploring further into space. After all, since the beginning of humankind, we have been exploring the unknown, but what is the other side of the argument? What’s stopping us from continuing the human tradition of exploring whatever is unknown? Space travel is not only dangerous and expensive, but also a risk to the future of space travel. If space travel is such a risk to the economy, astronauts, and even the future of human exploration, then space travel is not worth the time and cost.

Space travel is too expensive for America, instead of having to deal with the costs of space, we should solve problems in America and on Earth. Peter Roff, an editor for U.S. News and World Report and a former senior political writer for United Press International, says “If the government continues to spend money on such luxuries as the ‘Lasso an Asteroid’ program, there will be less money available for core functions. By failing to choose between ‘gun’" and ‘butter,’ the country may someday find itself in the position where it can afford neither.”(Roff). Roff is saying that America is not in the financial position to even think about space exploration right now. If we want to go further, our only option is asking China for help. He also calls the "Lasso an Asteroid" program a luxury, insinuating that space travel is more a privilege than a necessity for humans at this point. The “Lasso an Asteroid” program is estimated to cost 100 million dollars (Roff). This cost could be underestimated, however, as NASA has a history of underestimating prices on purpose, to receive funding. Jackie Wattles and Rachel Crane, writers for CNN, reveal that SLS, a new rocket that is projected to be more powerful than any launch vehicle ever built, could potentially help bring humanity to Mars. SLS was expected to cost somewhere near $9.7 billion, and was projected to be sent up into space around 2017. Instead, however, NASA has dumped $12 billion into the project, and is not expected to fly until late 2020 (Crane). NASA is already 2.3 billion dollars over what they estimated, and is not even close to being finished with the project. By these same ratios, the “Lasso an Asteroid” program would cost up to 120 million dollars, and not be finished. The Apollo missions, possibly the most successful missions in human history, cost a total of 25 billion dollars at the time, equating to about 150 billion dollars in today's dollars (Roff). This shows us that the only way to have a successful program is to put billions of dollars into it, and with the problems America and the world have to face today, it is simply not worth it. This money could go to homeless shelters, orphanages, and other organizations that help the underprivileged. We could solve so many problems with this money that we spend on seemingly useless space programs and missions. 

Not only is space travel expensive,  but it is also very dangerous to the astronauts who go into space. There have been a total of 14 astronauts who have died either going up to space, or in space itself. Rockets are dangerous, and rockets blowing up with astronauts inside is sadly more common than one might think. There are other dangers too, however, such as isolation. Astronauts have to spend weeks, if not months or years, in space without seeing friends or family (Perez). Jason Perez, a writer for NASA’s human research program says that  “Depression could occur. Fatigue is inevitable given that there will be times with heavy workload and shifting schedules. Still, periods of monotony may lead to boredom rearing its ugly head. Misunderstandings and impaired communications with your team members might impact performance and mission success” (Perez). Isolation may actually impact the safety of astronauts, and the mission’s success. Perez also says that isolation and confinement can cause permanent brain damage in the form of behavioral, cognitive, and psychiatric disorders. Perez also goes on to say that microscopic life, known as microbes, can harm and cause illness to the astronauts in space. He says that they are easily transferred from one person to another, especially in the small space station they would likely be in. These microbes can increase “stress hormone levels are elevated and your immune system is altered, which could lead to increased susceptibility to allergies or other illnesses, and disease”(Perez). Here, Perez shows that just being in the environment of space can cause many different side effects, making keeping track of each one difficult.

Finally the most concerning issue with space travel is space debris. As we launch more satellites into space, we increase the chances of satellites colliding. Every time a satellite collides with another, more space debris results, increasing the chances of another collision, and creating a domino effect. Eventually there will be so much debris, satellites will no longer be able to function without turning into space junk. Unfortunately this process has already begun. According to Mark Garcia, a writer for NASA, “More than 500,000 pieces of debris, or ‘space junk,’ are tracked as they orbit the Earth. They all travel at speeds up to 17,500 mph, fast enough for a relatively small piece of orbital debris to damage a satellite or a spacecraft”(Garcia). Garcia also goes on to add that there are an additional 20,000 pieces of space debris that are larger than a softball, and many millions of space debris that we just can not track. By adding these numbers up, there are millions of tiny metal pieces flying around Earth faster than a bullet, all with the capability of destroying a satellite, and creating more space debris. This not only puts the future of space travel in danger, but also the Astronauts brave enough to live in this war zone. Mark Garcia tells us that “The rising population of space debris increases the potential danger to all space vehicles, but especially to the International Space Station, space shuttles and other spacecraft with humans aboard”(Garcia). This problem is not just in theory; space debris causes many collisions. In 1996, pieces of an old French rocket that was detonated in space collided with a French satellite, damaging it and creating more space debris. In 2009 an old and nonfunctional Russian satellite collided with an American commercial satellite, destroying both completely, and creating 2,000 pieces of space debris, and many more space debris we can track. Space debris, sadly, does not just come from accidental collisions. Some countries decided that testing out their military weapons on their own satellites is the best way to show off their military might, but in reality they are just locking our species down, preventing us from learning and exploring the unknown. In 2007 China decided to destroy an old, disabled satellite with a missile. The explosion which followed added 3,000 pieces of space debris into orbit, when there could have just been one satellite (Garcia).

It is so easy to say, yes, we need to explore more and travel further into space, but in reality, the issue is much more complex. There are problems with finding the money needed to explore space. There are problems with the safety and protection of astronaut lives, and how much we are willing to put human life on the line for knowledge, and there are problems with space debris locking us down on our own planet. We should continue to explore unknown regions, because that is what humanity does, but until we know exactly how to fix the space debris problem, the safety issues, and cost of it all, many would argue that space travel is just not worth it at this point in time.

Annotated Bibliography

Garcia, Mark. “Space Debris and Human Spacecraft.” NASA, 26 Sep. 2013, 

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.html

This source is from NASA, and details how much space debris there is. It also talks about how it will be a problem in the future of space exploration. This source is a good source to help understand more reasons for why space travel is a bad idea.

Hanbury-Tenison Robin, Bizony Piers. “Debate: For and against space exploration - is space 

research a waste of time?”. Eandt.theiet.org, 1 Jan. 2017, 

www.eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2011/10/debate-for-and-against-space-exploration-is-s

pace-research-a-waste-of-time/.

This source is a debate between a humanitarian expert (Hanbury-Tenison), and a space historian (Piers) on why we should and should continue space exploration. This source offers multiple pros and cons of space exploration. It is very good because it shows  two sides of the argument. Hanbury-Tenison explains that there are humanitarian problems on Earth that should be solved before we spend Billions of dollars on space.

Perez, Jason. “The Human Body in Space.” NASA, NASA, 30 Mar.    2016, 

www.nasa.gov/hrp/bodyinspace/.

This source goes into detail on how dangerous being a human in space really is. It was made by NASA, so it is a very reputable source. It talks about all the different things that occur in space such as radiation, isolation, and no gravity, and explains the effects they have on the human body. The article will help give me information about how dangerous space really is, and help the argument that it is too dangerous and stressful to send more humans for longer periods of time in space. This makes an effective argument against space travel.

Roff, Peter. “To Infinity and Beyond?: More Wasteful Spending at NASA.” U.S. News & 

WorldReport, U.S. News & World Report, 10 Apr. 2013, 10:30, 

www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/peter-roff/2013/04/10/stop-wasteful-federal-spending-on-space-programs-. 

This source gives many different details on the argument against spending more money on NASA. For example, in the article Roff says that because NASA is government funded, it attracts the best scientists only because it gives the most money. Whatever NASA discovers becomes "accepted," says Roff. What he means here is that because NASA is government run, the science is never challenged, event though it could be false, and has been false in the past.

Wattles, Jackie and Crane, Rachel. “NASA Estimates It Will Need $20 Billion to $30 Billion for

Moon Landing, Administrator Says.” CNN, Cable News Network, 14 Jun. 2019,  

www.cnn.com/2019/06/13/tech/nasa-budget-moon-mission-artemis/index.html.

This source reveals exactly how much NASA has spent in recent years, the budget of NASA, and the cost of future projects NASA wants to complete if their budget increases. I could use this to explain how expensive space travel really is.