To Boldly Go: Ethical Considerations For Space Exploration?

There are significant moments in virtually every human's life: when one learns to walk, when one learns to speak, or even when one recognizes existence outside of oneself. Eventually, every person comes to realize that their parents are individual human beings, that their peers or their teachers have lives they can't always see. Further, one learns of his own residence on a ginormous ball of gas floating through empty, inky blackness, and one begins to wonder: are there additional worlds? Does there exist other life? Is there another being in the universe right this very instance, wondering the exact same thing? It's natural human curiosity, and curiosity that's bound to be acted on, that deserves it too. While it certainly is a contentious …show more content…
For example, complications such as "back contamination", bringing diseases back from space, and "forward contamination", bringing Earth's diseases into space, should be taken into account (Source F). However, these sorts of problems are not unsolvable. They are simply an issue of ethics. In "To Boldly Go: Ethical Considerations for Space Exploration" (Source E), Margaret McLean takes a similar stance. She isn't against space exploration altogether, but instead advises explorers to "account for [their] urges and actions in terms of their impact on others." Further, McLean proposes the idea of "stewardship." This concept proffers space exploration without potentially harming our solar system; she writes, "Stewardship envisions humans not as owners of the solar system but as responsible managers of its wonder and beauty." As long as we view space as an inherently valuable entity, as McLean proposes in her plan for stewardship, then there is no need to quell humanity's innate desire to …show more content…
In an essay about space travel, David Livingston claims that "space exploration...is absolutely worth the cost" (Source A). According to Source C, however, space exploration doesn't have a lot of funding. "Space and technology" receives only a fraction of the money reserved for "all other" programs, and therein lies the issue. Later in his essay, Livingston states that space exploration could "...[inspire] our youngsters to grow up, do the schoolwork, and accept the challenges that await them…" Unfortunately, the miniscule value that is placed on extraterrestrial travel prohibits humans from creating any sort of "inspiration." In the same vein, Livingston argues that the money spent on space programs like NASA doesn't just disappear, it is used to pay workers ranging from manufacturers to doctors. By funding these programs, we are creating jobs. Ultimately, space is a new frontier, and it deserves to be explored, not only for the more romantic reasons like inspiring our leaders of tomorrow, but in order for us to learn and connect with worlds beyond just our