The French poet Antoine Saint-Exupery once said that “If you want to teach someone to sail, you don't train them how to build a boat. You compel them to long for the open seas.”  All children in the United States are drawn to outer space like flies to a light.  They are attracted to its mystery and its distance, intrigued enough to maybe even stare at the clear night sky every once in a while.  Now, with America becoming a laggard in the world community in all areas except its military, it is time to tap into those children’s curiosity and the pull of outer space in order to gain a leg up on rebooting the country’s economy, nationalism, and world standing.

The cultural importance of space exploration is visible in all aspects of American society. When the first men stepped on the moon in 1969, the whole country became one, united in the face of an amazing feat for all mankind. Since then, space exploration has signified everything worthwhile about the United States: its curiosity, its wealth, its dominance over everything around it, and certainly the American dream. The moon landing pushed the United States even further to the forefront of the world’s stage, and labeled the country as a winner, a place where people would want to live and thrive.  It also spawned a generation of space curious individuals, some of whom would dedicate their lives to the advancement of our knowledge of the vast expanse. Being the first country to send people to Mars would inspire another whole generation of young people to harness their curiosity for the good of their country and all of humanity, and would certainly gain the United States the rest of the world’s respect.  The people of other countries would finally be able to think of the U.S. as a country interested in working to benefit all of mankind and the world by being an innovator in space travel, rather than a country bent on protecting itself by destroying the will of others.

Space exploration provokes scientific and engineering thinking and curiosity such that is notably absent and sorely missed in American culture. A central role in America’s downfall in the world community has been the loss of technological industry in the country: popular cars are imported from other countries and foreign technology companies like samsung and sony dominate many markets. Rather than stay in the country, both educated individuals and innovative companies looking for somewhere to plant themselves search elsewhere. This is due to a void of hard scientific culture and curiosity in the country, which is clearly evident in the student mindsets in high schools, colleges, and programs around the country which try to persuade young people to study the hard sciences.  On my last slew of college visits, it was clear that the universities were trying to show off their business, economics, and world politics programs, with almost no emphasis on sciences such as physics and biology.  Of course, this reflects the sentiment of high schoolers looking into colleges, many of whom sum up their high school experience by asking, “why are we being taught complex science and math instead of how to balance our check books and raise our future children?” After middle school, there is simply an absence of interest in the sciences. 

The most surefire way to increase interest in the sciences in America’s youth is to give them opportunities to explore outer space, feeding their curiosities in the area where they are most hungry.  As famed astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson said, “that [curiosity] drives our urge to innovate, and space exploration has the power to do that, especially when it’s a moving frontier because all the traditional sciences are there” (Heller).  Tyson truly believes that letting people loose on outer space is giving them fuel to propel all of the creative and innovative thinking that they are capable of.  With a revitalization of space exploration will come the re-emergence of a scientific thinking culture in the United States, and the return of technological industry and highly educated individuals.

Space research and exploration could also prove directly beneficial to mankind as a whole down the road.  According to Stephen Hawking, "our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain inward-looking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space" (Moskowitz).  Space exploration and research is a valuable opportunity to gather necessary information in the case of an emergency or disaster such as nuclear war or even an asteroid heading for Earth.  Neil deGrasse Tyson also believes that putting more money and effort on space exploration could help prevent a disaster, particularly that of a meteorite striking Earth, which has occurred periodically through the history of the planet and certainly will happen again before its ultimate demise. No one can argue against being prepared for any and all possible situations.

In the summer of 2011, NASA shut down its space shuttle program due to lack of federal funding.  While upcoming launches of mechanized space satellites and probes are set for the future, along with very tentative plans for a manned Mars mission at some point, the funding is not significant enough the fast production of science and engineering advances.  According to NASA’s website, the program received only seventeen billion dollars in fiscal year 2014, or exactly one half of one percent of the federal budget (“FY”).  In his 2012 interview with Chris Heller of The Atlantic, DeGrasse Tyson estimated that raising NASA’s budget to a mere one percent of the federal budget could make a Mars trip much more plausible in the near future (Heller).  Such a budget increase would not only go to funding trips into outer space; it would pay the salaries of thousands of extra workers, the start up money for building new technologies relevant in and out of space, and even the education of both young people and adults, in hopes of inspiring them too to work in the field.  The benefits would be felt throughout the country. 

The most common argument against funding space exploration and research in the United States is that the federal government’s funding money would be better spent on problems at home that actually has solutions in sight.  However, scientists like DeGrasse Tyson are quick to point out that the United States government is already spending enormous amounts of money trying to find these solutions, and no meaningful advances are being made.  Is it not time to try another method, one that will both provoke the type of thinking necessary for innovation and also inspire generations to come to do the same?  A solution that will create jobs in a field that almost everyone is, by nature, intrigued by?  Is it not time to focus on larger picture solutions rather than putting all of our eggs in the military’s hugely budgeted basket? Would it not be amazing to see men and women on Mars, wearing the American seal on their arm and planting an American flag on the red planet, a symbol of the freedom and innovation of the country?  The path to the solution is wide open in front of the United States, and both the people of the country and the politicians in control must choose to take it.

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