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THE RISK OF HUMAN SPACE TRAVEL
By Lauren Woods
The recent shuttle Columbia tragedy has resurrected the argument that human
space travel is unsafe.On the morning of Feb. 1, 2003, space shuttle Columbia broke apart roughly 40 miles above the earth’s surface in the sky over the state of Texas. On this return flight to earth, seven astronauts died aboard the shuttle, six of which were American plus one Israeli astronaut. Five of the astronauts were men and two were women. Four of these people had never even flown in space before.
NASA has not yet discovered the reason for this tragedy although there has been speculation.
This is not the first time that a shuttle has been lost. It is the second time in seventeen years. This recent disaster has brought back memories of the Challenger shuttle and its demise in 1986 upon take off.
Colleen Younghans, 20, a Marist College student remembers watching the first shuttle disaster on television as a young child.“ I was only four when it happened, but I remember it so clearly,” Younghans said, “I remember how excited the media and my family were for the shuttle to take-off and when it exploded it was just so horrifying.”
Americans have once again been confronted with the dangers of space travel after the recent tragedy of the space shuttle Columbia. NASA has been sending people into space for the past 30 years, but is there a true need for it? Technology has advanced to the degree that machines could most likely complete the tasks that humans do in space. Why then are we still sending humans into space, risking human life?
If there is a necessity for humans to travel to space, then the way of transporting them there needs to be brought up to par. Some people feel that more funding needs to be given to NASA. Those people also feel that the development of a new advanced and safe travel system is a necessity before more human lives are put at risk for the exploration of space.
Helen Ullio, 43, assistant to the news director at WNBC news has worked in the news business for many years and has lived through the coverage of the mishaps in space travel. Ullio, like many, believes the expense of losing human life far outweighs the expense of losing heavy machinery that is old and outdated.
“Sending men and women into space is risky,” Ullio said, “Its great to have the technology to do so but Americans are becoming more and more afraid of something going wrong. I just wish we could just use machines to perform all the tasks humans usually do.”
According to Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, the American people are very sensitive to putting humans in space after the tragedy.
“The American people are still positive for space travel,” Miringoff said. “There is an ongoing commitment, but people are not plugged in to the scientific development which could be a problem,” Miringoff said.