Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Space exploration he Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated Texas 2003 return Earth. The Challenger exploded shortly launch 1986. An Apollo 1 spacecraft imploded fire launch pad 1967. In case, lives crew members lost. The hugely complex shuttle a bit airplane
What are the pros and cons of manned space exploration from an ethical perspective? Should the U.S. spend billions of dollars to return an astronaut to the moon?
During the Cold War, manned space flights were a powerful symbolic image of the success of the U.S. space program. For the Russians to send cosmonauts into space and the Americans to send computers would have been an admission of defeat, a sign of inferiority of the U.S. government. Also, the computerized technology of the 1950s and 1960s was far inferior to what is available today. However, now that the Cold War is at an end, the question remains: why explore the cosmos with manned missions? There seems to be no pressing military or public relations reason for human beings to be sent into space. It is less costly, safer, and does not compromise scientific achievement to send machines to explore space. So why does the U.S. continue to attempt to send manned space missions at great...
While shuttle launches and the International Space Station get all the media coverage, these small, relatively inexpensive unmanned missions are doing important science in the background" (Rahls 2005:1). In the wake of recent budget cuts to NASA, space exploration (and the necessary safety checks for manned space flights) has grown increasingly costly. Ethically speaking, NASA cannot even perform adequate safety checks to guarantee the safety of astronauts.
Unlike humans, robots do not need food, water, or other extraneous accoutrements to keep them alive, and if there is a malfunction, the only loss is a financial one, not a loss of life. "As computers become more capable and reliable, robots of greater complexity will be built to handle even the most challenging assignments. The time for humans to explore space may have come [and gone]…. And, indeed, may have gone forever"…
References
Rahls, Chuck. (2005). Manned vs. Unmanned. PhysOrg.com. Retrieved February 21, 2011 at http://www.physorg.com/news8442.html
Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster: What Happened and Lessons The Space Shuttle Columbia (Columbia) disaster occurred on the 1st of February, 2003. On its return journey from space following its 28th mission, Columbia disintegrated after re-entering the earth's atmosphere, killing the entire crew.[footnoteRef:1] Whereas technical failures were responsible for the disasters, investigations have extensively faulted deficiencies in NASA's organisational culture, especially in terms of organisational structure, communication, and decision making processes.[footnoteRef:2],[footnoteRef:3] This
Columbia STS-107 Crew Introduction/Space Shuttle Columbia History of Columbia It's all in a Name Previous Missions Columbia's Final Flight The Crew Richard Husbands William McCool Michael Anderson David Brown Kalpana Chawla Laurel Clark Ilan Ramon Space Shuttle Columbia On January 16th, 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia STS Flight with seven crewmembers on board departed earth on a sixteen-day research mission. More specifically, the crew of Columbia was charged with conducting research in physical, life, and space sciences, conducted in approximately 80 separate experiments, comprised of hundreds
Aerospace Engineering Plethora of Purposes Earthbound Vehicles Household Products Tasks that an aerospace engineer performs The Engineer The Scientist The Technician The Future of Aerospace Engineering Education New Products Challenges to Aerospace Engineering The purpose of this discussion is to explore the topic of aerospace engineering. We will begin by defining aerospace engineering and the plethora of purposes that it serves with earthbound vehicles and household supplies. We will then discuss the various tasks that an aerospace engineer team performs. This
The final form of the proposed course of action is as follows: 1. Employees would be offered training programs in order to increase their confidence in the institution - these trainings would first be offered to administrative staff, namely managers, who would then be able to better supervise the NASA operations, identify and propose solutions to the encountered limitations. The programs would also prepare employees for the changes that are
They could do it time and time again with success. The first electric car was used on the moon during the Apollo 14 (Endeavor and Falcon) mission (Kennedy Space Center). Meanwhile in Russia While the space program in the United States was busy becoming a popular culture icon, the Russian space program took on a different personality. They still launched missions for "national prestige" (Wade). However, the majority of Soviet missions