Astronaut Recounts Experiences

This is one of the most enduring debates about modern day space (and oceanic) exploration, and one in which many reasonable people very often disagree! As a scientist (I'm a geologist and an oceanographer) I found I always learned things from being in the field that I wouldn't have known to program into a data acquisition scheme; being there mattered. I think the impetus to explore is not solely intellectual, but reflects a deep human drive to discover, learn, expand and evolve. If we really engaged in a grand challenge, like manned expeditions to Mars, we would be compelled to make major advances in technologies that are very relevant to sustaining and improving life on earth, such as power generation and storage, radiation protection, environmental control. Transformative advances in science and technology are more likely to occur in pursuits driven by boundary-breaking questions than by the targeted pursuit of incremental improvements.

Finally, human spaceflight is an enterprise that evokes our shared humanity and our best aspirations. I've seen this at shuttle launches. I've heard it from my own crewmates as we looked out the shuttle's windows, first focused on our home state, then thinking of entire continents and finally being aware of the Earth as one place. And I've heard it from countless people in countries around the world, who do not say "when you (Americans) walked on the Moon" but rather "We (Earthlings) have been to the Moon." We should not underestimate the importance of this intangible benefit.