Should humanity make Space Exploration its priority?
827881
Humans should establish viable breeding populations off planet to insure that they can survive any disaster that might befall your planet. Any species that evolves to the point where they ask the question "Why?" has to  make the attempt to survive as a species, but humanity may not muster the necessary resources to pursue this course. You may end up a footnote in galactic history.
1031470
The Earth is a finite resource and will become uninhabitable one day.   Global warming, nuclear accident, hit from a big rock from space - there are plenty of disaster scenarios.\n\nWe need to be prepared.  To that end NASA needs to do so much more research, travel to other planets, set up a base on the moon and mars and, above all work towards spaceflight being like flying today.   Sound far fetched?   When my dad was a boy man couldn't fly and before he died men were standing on the moon.\n\nProfessor Stephen Hawking, he who wrote 'A brief History of Time', recently stated that if mankind did not seek out planetary travel pretty quickly there was a good chance a natural disaster would wipe out all human life!
1082872
The sky's the limit!  Sorry, couldn't resist.\n\nIt really depends on what advances are made in physics and technology.  Right now it looks like it would be very unlikely that man will ever leave the solar system.  The reason for that is because it takes so much energy to push a craft at the speeds necessary to get anywhere in a decent amount of time.  NASA recently launched a tiny, little probe to Pluto, which will take 10 years to arrive.  To send a crew of people that far, a much larger craft would be needed to support the life systems, which means far more energy would be required to push it.  The energy source would further increase the mass of the craft and increase the energy requirements, etc.\n\nI think our best bet with "conventional" technology would be to send a suicide mission to Alpha Centauri (the next-nearest star).  I don't know what the point would be of sending humans there, but it could be done over a period of maybe 100 years.  The original astronauts might not make it, but they could have children or grandchildren during the voyage who could reach the star.\n\nIf scientists ever figure out how to create and travel through wormholes or other theoretical means, then there's really no limit to how far we can go.
250375
Deffinitely, we need something from the space program to be PROUD of again.  Since we lost Russian competition, we've squandered our time in space.  I say it's time to do these things, not because they're easy, but because they're hard!
623058
I will do it to satisfy my curiosity. A free trip in the space to discover other inhabited planets and galaxies is a dream come true. It is an occassion not to miss out but i would not go for ever because there can't be no better place than our home. I will return back to earth after the trip to my home sweet home.
1183835
With the current advances in transportation technology, it will be possible it is just a matter of time.  The main problem that space exploration has to deal with is radiation surges caused by solar flares.  They have to develop a proper shielding and detection system that is light enough to launch into outer space.  That is one of the reasons why it is debated whether or not man has even walked on the moon because of the immense amount of radiation that the ship would have been forced to endure would it have traveled that distance.  There are a number of other proofs provided for both sides taht I will not get into.  I think that it is possible and that man will accomplish it if the Lord tarries his coming.
1150393
I think that a return to space is inevitable, and will reap enormous benefits in our understanding of ecology, medicine, electronics, propulsion and power generation, food production, and a host of other areas that we can only guess at from this side of the process. \nMars is a good goal, simply because, as JFK said, "it is hard." Landing on, and staying on, Mars, or the moon, is a tremendous undertaking, and one well worthwhile.\nThe problem, as I see it, is that while we are wasting so much of our energy combatting phantoms, we may find it difficult to coordinate the necessary effort to succeed in such an endeavor.\nSo until "terror" stops being the driving force in American politics, I think any serious striving for "progress" will be put on the back burner.\nAnd that is a terrifying though, isn't it?
331128
We don't need space weapons - the rest of the world is not poised to invade, that is a myth perpetrated by the military-industrial complex. The scientific value of sending people into space is also I think questionable. We should concentrate on missions that will bring benefits to all mankind through better knowledge of our universe and decommision the weapons to spend the money more wisely on reducing poverty and suffering in the world.
735612
I would go if I could afford it! Hopefully this commercilization of space will have the same effect as when anything becomes commercial - Things cost less and less and advancement come faster and faster. I'm waiting for a week long vacation at a space hotel.
1180333
All we have to do is survive long enough to expand into space. I think if we did that, it would be hard for anything to stamp out all the pockets of humans around. Especially if we could figure out how to not die as individuals.
805923
the international space station currently has three crewmembers in it should be completed by 2010 with the last missions of the space shuttles. next nasa will go back to the moon by 2020 and plans to leave men their for extended periods of time. after that would come manned missions to mars and then to other planets and moons. we could colonize more of our solar system in the not too distant future, but eventually we will learn the secrets of interstellar travel. Then we can go to other, more earthlike planets across the galaxy and accross the universe. at that point we might even find some other intelligent life. that would be cool.\ngo to nasa.gov, orion is the program that will get us back to the moon and then to mars.
967621
Well, you are correct in that sittin' around will end in our collective lifes' destruction.  And attempts at proving life beyond Earth are ongoing.  Many of the missions to Mars are currently trying to prove that (among other things).  SETI is also an attempt to see or hear if anything is out there.  But that's a shot in the dark (har, har, de har har).\n\nThere are some significant steps being made to make spacecraft that can go "fast".  VASMIR (plasma rocket) among other things.\n\nThe two technologies that will drive us into the next level of abilities are quantum and nano technology.  Those will have significant impact on everything we build and contemplate.\n\nEventually our sun will get hotter, that could boil off our oceans (way before the sun bloats).  The Earths core could also cool enough that our magnetic field dissappears.  This would cause our atomosphere to slowly whisp away.\n\nBeing able to live in more hostile environments with nearly 100% recycling ability is our greatest challenge.  WIth that, we can start making our way out of this solar system and on to the next.\n\nWrite me for more discussion.  Fa shizzle.
1148300
All space garbage should be recycled and composted into an ecosystem. Thats the complicated set of chemistry questions that goes wtih that particular problem.\n\nUsing large enough diameters and centripetal force we can generate strong enough and stable enough pseudo\ngravity to compensate for that problem. A chemical problem with a civil engineering fix.
628520
Look at how many sattelites we put up... there is something wrong with your reasoning, you're ignoring a lot of the facts.  How is it more difficult now?  A civilian recently built and flew his own spacecraft into space 3 times successfully.  Hundreds of satellites are orbiting the earth as we speak.  How does it seem space travel is more difficult?  We have several astronauts in a spacestation right now... Civilians have purchased tickets into space, the people on the space station have been relieve, replaced, etc multiple times... As far as the moon goes, there really isn't/wasn't any reason to go back, not a whole lot there if ya know what I mean ;)  They're working on mars projects continuously... just because a few landers and orbiters crash doesn't mean things are more difficult.  If you do some research you will find literally hundreds of crashes, mislaunches, explosions, and other quality errors; the old times make the number and degree of current mistakes seem almost trivial.  Science and technology have proven themselves time and time again when it comes to space, and it keeps getting better.
63217
My personal opinion is much less optimistic. My feeling is that manned space flight has already peaked. It is too expensive. The economic benefits are there, energy, mining and the like, but only if there is a sufficient infrastructure already in orbit.\n\nIn my opinion it is making that infrastructure during the time before space is economically useable - which is certainly the case now - is the critical time.\n\nIt would be very easy (unfortunatetly) for the US to let manned space travel go on a haitus...and then a a vacation...and then forget about it. The US nows owes a tremendous amount of money (and we know whoses fault that is).\n\nAs for other countries I am not optimistic that, say, China will leap to the forefront. They will encounter the same problem. Human space travel is very expensive, dangerous, and there is a lot left to learn.\n\nSo I am afraid that the hurdle needed, the jump from where we our now to something even moderately self-sufficient in space, may be too high.\n\nThose who watched the moon landings (as I did as a kid) may have seen the farthest extent of humans in space.\n\nI hope I am wrong, but I just don't see a great future for humans in space.
1008793
Regardless of whether or not there is a chance of an extinction event, I think we need to establish colonies on Mars and the moon. \n\nWe need to exapnd and explore. It is in our nature and if we want to maintain our edge in science, it serves us to develop our space capabilities.
722108
I choose (b) interstellar travel.  \n\nEven if we found (a) the answer to the fusion energy problem, we could still be hit by a meteor collision, (as ONE example), and destroyed.  \n\nI think (d) a universal cure to ALL illnesses would not be ultimately beneficial to humankind.  Unless it was checked by serious measures of population control, it would be devastating for the planet.  Unpleasant as it is to think about, disease, starvation, stress, and war may be nature's way of controlling the population.  And again, even if we were all healthy on this planet, we could STILL be hit by a meteor and destroyed!\n\nI believe (b) interstellar travel and (c) consciousness, are closely related.  I would still choose (b) interstellar travel, because the benefits would be two-fold.  Through it, we could gain a deeper understanding of consciousness by interaction with other life-forms, technologies, and perspectives.  At the same time, we would be working towards providing an alternate environment for humanity to spread and survive in.  Consciousness may not be a quick solution or invention that can be made by one person.  It must be a process that humans must evolve into.  And that evolution of awareness may be hastened with the advent of interstellar travel.\n\nUltimately, I believe in our consciousness evolving into a purely non-physical form.  Unfortunately, we are still slaves to our physical limitations.  Until we can free ourselves of this, we must create a balance which both secures our physical state, as well as works to evolve our non-physical conscious selves.