Is Space Exploration Worth It?

July 20, 1969. The day the world changed forever.

You could say it began earlier that decade, when a president dared his countrymen to cast their gaze to space.

Or you could say it had its origins hundreds of thousands of years before, when our distant ancestors first looked to the heavens … and wondered what was out there, beyond their reach.

Regardless of when it started, something new happened that day. For the first time in the history of the species … a human being set foot on something other than the planet Earth.

It was an accomplishment unlike any in the history of the world. And the reaction amongst the people of the country that pulled it off was…

“Meh. I guess it’s fine … if that’s your thing.”

[OPENING SEQUENCE]

Folks, it doesn’t get much wilder than the 20th century. From the beginning of time until December 16, 1903, humans didn’t fly. Then, on December 17, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the Wright Brothers changed all that.

So, how’s this for progress? It takes about 300,000 years for humans to get a plane in the sky … for about 12 seconds.ⁱ And then, within just another 66 years … we’re standing on the surface of the moon. Boy, talk about your late bloomers.

But while we now look back on the glory days of the space race as a rare moment of national unity … nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, polling records show that for almost the entirety of the 1960s, a majority of Americans didn’t think that the Apollo program’s mission to the moon was worth the cost.ⁱⁱ Many of them believed that money would have been better spent helping the poor here on Earth.ⁱⁱⁱ

In the more than half a century since then, human endeavors in space have changed a lot. Today, for instance, much of the investment in space is coming from the private sector. But at least one thing has stayed the same: A lot of people still think it’s a waste. And sure, some of them are just cranky dudes on the internet, but some of them are also … future kings.

[Clip of Prince William criticizing focus on space rather than Earth]

First off, let’s remember: He’s British royalty. We fought a war for the right to not have to listen to them.

But second: Does he have a point? I mean, there are plenty of problems on Earth. Is space exploration really worth the effort … and the cost?

Well, if you’re like many Americans, the cost is probably a lot less than you think. One famous survey found that Americans estimated that NASA gets about ¼ of the entire federal budget.^iv And if that were the case … we’d have a Disneyland on Saturn.

The actual amount of the federal budget that goes to NASA: less than one half of one percent.^v In fact, we spend almost 16 times as much just on interest payments for the national debt.

So, the cost: not as much you think. And the benefits: probably way more than you think.

Let’s start with a pretty basic one: KEEPING SPACE FROM MURDERING US!

Yeah, no space program, no mechanism in place to try to detect planet-killing asteroids. And the security implications go beyond protecting us from homicidal space rocks. It’s also a matter of protecting us from our adversaries.

The intelligence community reports that the combined Chinese and Russian space fleets grew by 70 percent just between 2019 and 2021.^vi Part of the reason: Because, as that same report notes, China sees the ability to disable American satellites as a way to shut down our use of precision weapons, a strategy designed to “blind and deafen the enemy.”^vii

Even North Korea has a space program … though, so far, it’s just a guy with a jetpack on a trampoline.

And these kinds of national security concerns are one reason we may want to take it a bit easier on the billionaires. After the U.S. ended its space shuttle program in 2011, American astronauts couldn’t even get into space unless they traveled on Russian spacecraft. Which Vladimir Putin was kind enough to allow … at $86 million a seat.^viii

The reason that’s come to an end? Because now our astronauts can get to space using Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Which is also likely to have benefits here on Earth. SpaceX hopes to harness the same reusable rockets that send our astronauts to space to someday transport passengers anyplace in the world in under an hour. They estimate that the trip from New York City to Shanghai … will take 39 minutes.^ix So, roughly the length of the safety video.

And this wouldn’t be the first time that technology designed for space has revolutionized life here on Earth. NASA is a big part of why we have the cameras in our cell phones^x — and, the GPS systems.^xi Their technology is central to CAT scans^xii and the methods we use to de-ice planes.^xiii Hell, they even provided the gold coating that’s used for an Oscar.^xiv

Ok, don’t hold that one against them.

The technology involved in heart transplants, cochlear implants, and artificial limbs? From NASA.^xv Enriched baby formula? From NASA.^xvi The tech we use to clean up oil spills? NASA.^xvii

Tang? Not from NASA, please stop saying it is. ^xviii

Bottom line: We don’t go to space as a hobby. We go as an investment … in our safety, in our technology, and in our future.

And yes, we also go to space for the sake of discovery itself. To answer the kinds of questions that captivated our ancestors centuries ago:

What’s out there?

What don’t we know?

And…

…How exactly do the North Koreans think this is going to work?