First and Last Blast Off to Mars or Asteroids

Recently, I read the article "Let's Build a Stairway to Mars" by Michael Benson from The New York Times. It seems that the Space Shuttle will go on its last exploration next September. After this launch, astronauts will no longer be sent into space. This decision seems odd for the United States, who is the leader of space travel, but without sufficient funds, astronauts just have to keep their feet plastered to their home planet. According to Benson, President Obama needs to find a way to make this a public interest and find some money to revitalize America's space program. Astronauts have not been sent to space in a while. They are no longer considered "explorers." The last astronaut mission was almost 40 years ago when Apollo 17 returned from the moon in December of 1972. Without Astronauts, Benson even finds the International Space Station to be pointless, stating that, "it flies, of course, in circles--with no destination." With all the scientific advances present in the modern world, it seems odd not to send astronauts to space every once in a while, but 40 years is a long time. All the training that astronauts go through seems to be going out the window if America's space program cannot get any funds. Even the public is no longer interested in space travel since no major occurrences have happened since Apollo. For its last travel, the shuttle program is looking for long distance exploration. One of its destination options is Mars. The cost for the program would be around $3 billion. Astronauts would get to step foot on Mars for the first and the last time until a source of funds finds its way to NASA. Another space destination are the near-Earth asteroids, since they may cause danger to the planet as in the case of the dinosaurs. With the exploration of these asteroids, scientists may develop a way to avoid or deflect future asteroids heading towards the Earth's surface. Another positive about the asteroids are that they are filled with valuable metals, like gold, silver, and zinc. An international cooperation would make space travel even more interesting. Benson is looking forward to seeing a U.S. lead space mission with participants from China, Canada, Europe, and Japan. This cooperation would definitely help with funding. Though the asteroids sound like a good idea as well, Benson has his heart set on going to Mars. Let's see if space travel will just become another story to tell the grandkids.