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Passage 1 |
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The popularity of manned space flight stems from a peculiar |
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mixture of American ideals buried deep in the national |
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consciousness. Can-do optimism and engineering know-how combine |
| (5) |
with a New Frontier to provide something quasi-religious: the |
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chance to be born again by ascending to the heavens. |
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Unprecedented material benefits—the storied “spin-offs” that |
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we’re always promised—will doubtlessly emanate from this noble |
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effort that will unify our fractious country. Marshalling |
| (10) |
America’s techno-scientific expertise for a Pilgrimage into space |
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will allow us to re-enact our national origins and renew our |
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appointed role: to create a shining City on a Hill in a New World |
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that presents the last best hope of mankind. Thus, manned space |
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flight reconciles seemingly contradictory aspects of the national |
| (15) |
identity: nostalgic and forward-looking, religious and |
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scientific, spiritual and material. |
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Only through the sobering examination of the costs and |
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benefits of manned space flight can the effect of so seductively |
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romantic a brew be shaken off. Should we spend hundreds of |
| (20) |
billions of dollars on, say, a |
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mission to Mars when we face crushing problems such as |
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poverty, terrorism, and global warming? The likely benefits of |
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manned space flight had better be staggering in the face of the |
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opportunity costs * of not directly investing in problems such as |
| (25) |
these. |
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Thus, I would like to discuss a non-romantic argument often |
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put forth in favor of manned space flight. Enthusiasts claim that |
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space-based scientific research is both invaluable and impossible |
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to replicate on Earth. There is little proof for this claim. For |
| (30) |
example, Mir, the now-defunct space station, yielded no |
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scientific breakthroughs commensurate with its cost. In one |
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experiment, scientists concluded that plants did not grow well in |
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space. Clearly, this bit of information would be invaluable only |
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to astronauts. Furthermore, a reexamination of this experiment |
| (35) |
found that plant growth had been stunted for quite mundane and |
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well-understood reasons. Ethylene, a gas long known to be |
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released by plants, had accumulated in the enclosure and |
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inhibited growth. So much for invaluable groundbreaking advances |
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. As for important research that can’t be accomplished on Earth, |
| (40) |
it is often argued that the only way to study the long-term |
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effects of zero-gravity on the human body is in space. This |
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argument carries weight only for those already committed to |
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manned space flight. But as an independent argument for manned |
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space flight, this argument is circular: we must have manned |
| (45) |
space flight to understand the long-term effects of zero-gravity |
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in order to have more manned space flight. |
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A sober cost/benefit analysis shows that robotic space |
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exploration trumps manned space flight. Robots have proven to be |
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remarkably effective at exploring our solar system. Their |
| (50) |
scientific impact is ubiquitously acknowledged. In terms of |
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financial and human cost, robot expeditions are far cheaper to |
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mount. |
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The circularity of even seemingly non-romantic arguments for |
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manned space flight belies the fundamental romanticism of its |
| (55) |
supporters. Doubtlessly unaware of the ingredients in the |
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seductive brew noted above, enthusiasts support manned space |
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flight because they think it would be really fun and exciting. |
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Being an American, I can understand this. I, too, yearn for |
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adventures on alien shores. But even though it would be really |
| (60) |
fun and exciting to deplete all my savings on a year-long |
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adventure on merely Mediterranean shores, as an adult I know that |
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I have more pressing, if less enticing, claims on my resources. |
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Those who argue for manned space flight do so out of romantic, |
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escapist, and childlike notions that they should outgrow. |
| (65) |
* An “opportunity cost” is a comparison between the likely |
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return on one investment and the likely return on another. |
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Passage 2 |
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The orbiting astronaut looks down on his home and grasps |
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both its fragility and the pettiness of our mundane conflicts. |
| (70) |
How trite! How dare we spend vast sums on manned space flight |
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when six billion of us live in the midst of conflicts and |
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problems, which, while perhaps “petty” from a God’s-eye view, |
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threaten the future of our civilization and species? Furthermore, |
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the oft-made assertion that manned space experiments have yielded |
| (75) |
critical advances either directly or indirectly is arguable at |
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best. |
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So goes the fashionable critique of manned space travel. |
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However, rather than cynically dismiss the astronaut’s now |
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proverbial reaction to seeing the Earth from on high, I propose |
| (80) |
that we consider the potential benefits that this change in |
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perspective would have on real-world problems were it only spread |
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more widely. Moreover, equally intangible “romantic” impulses to |
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explore should not be thrown aside so lightly. Motivation |
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matters. Where would we be today if Christopher Columbus had not |
| (85) |
embarked on his “folly” to open a western passage to the East? |
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Beneficial unintended consequences—or, “spin-offs”—are real and |
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pre-date the moon shot. Columbus, in fact, failed to open a new |
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trade route to the East, but he did find two continents |
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previously unknown to his contemporaries in Europe, Asia, and |
| (90) |
Africa. While clearly not entirely beneficial—especially for the |
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millions of Native Americans felled by Old-World diseases or |
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conquistadors’ muskets—Columbus’ discovery nevertheless made |
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great things possible, such as the United States. |
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Rather than retreat in embarrassment from the charge of |
| (95) |
“romanticism,” we should embrace it. The case for manned space |
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flight should rest explicitly upon the rejuvenating and unifying |
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potential the effort provides our troubled world. In particular, |
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we should cease insisting that immensely important scientific |
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discoveries are imminent and inevitable. While this almost |
| (100) |
certainly is the case, we really don’t need manned space flight |
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to yield scientific discoveries; robots do very well for that |
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purpose. Moreover, the real-world benefits of intangible |
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inspiration are not limited to a welcome and fruitful change in |
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perspective. How many young people would rush into the sciences |
| (105) |
if a full-scale global effort in manned space flight—a mission to |
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Mars is the obvious choice—were launched? How beneficial would |
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the consequences of the requisite and unprecedented international |
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cooperation be for the grave issues that face our species here on |
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Earth? |
| (110) |
Rather than promise dubious economic boons when we’re |
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labeled “escapist,” we should explicitly state the possibility |
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that we have already failed on this planet and that space is our |
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only long-term option. Most scientists agree that we are already |
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dangerously close to Earth’s |
| (115) |
carrying capacity. Surely, within the half-century or so it |
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would take to truly conquer manned space flight, we will be that |
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much closer to a nightmare of ecological or societal collapse. |
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Doesn’t the likely prospect of global collapse in itself |
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represent the most massive opportunity cost possible for not |
| (120) |
investing heavily in manned space flight? It’s at the very least |
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arguable that the new frontier of the Americas gave rise to a |
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kind of society whose ideals truly are the last best hope of |
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mankind. Wouldn’t the new frontier of space bestow another |
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opportunity for fruitful experiments in enlightened government? I |
| (125) |
maintain that we cannot afford to throw aside the undeniable |
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romantic appeal that a global effort to put man in space would |
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engender. Our civilization will need all the help it can get to |
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survive this century. I can think of no argument for manned space |
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flight more unromantic than that. |
