By James Peters

TWO & OUT

PETERS: Apollo astronauts embodied human instinct for exploration

Jul 19, 2019 | 12:21 PM

ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE APOLLO 11 mission that saw humans land on the moon for the first time, it is appropriate that we ask the question, what are we doing in space?

Three Apollo astronauts were killed when a launchpad fire broke out before takeoff in 1967. Nineteen years later, seven astronauts were killed in the space shuttle Challenger as millions watched on television.

Then in 2003, another seven were killed when the space shuttle Columbia broke up 40 miles above the earth.

Even though the shuttle program has been shelved by NASA, we are still sending astronauts to toodle around on the International Space Station.

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So what are we doing up there?

The human race spends billions of dollars annually on space programs, and for what?

Just to get good, honest people killed in a fruitless search for little green men?

To answer these questions, we need to take a good look at who we are as humans.

It is our nature to explore.

We have a beautifully complex universe, and we are only beginning to scratch the surface of what it has to show us.

The more we discover about our universe, the more we learn about the physical laws that govern all of existence.

This knowledge has increased our understanding of what goes on here on Earth immeasurably, and we have been able apply it to improve the lives of many.

This knowledge has also led us to the realization that we are messing up our planet.

Eventually, we will need to look elsewhere to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding human race. Without a doubt, the only other place to which we can look is space.

Space research is not the safest thing we could be doing, nor is it probably the most efficient way to spend billions of dollars.

But those brave astronauts did not die in vain.

They were valiantly laying the groundwork for countless generations to come.

The future of the human race is not just up in the air; it is in space.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.

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