Space is one frontier that people from all walks of life are mystified by. In fact, the space program has not really yielded anything noteworthy in the last few years. The monetary cost, the human life that is at stake, and the lack of discoveries are reasons that the space program should be eliminated. Over the past four decades, more than 400 humans have been hurled into space. The push has cost hundreds of billions of dollars and twenty-one lives. .
One of the first reasons that space exploration should be eliminated is due to the excessive cost. NASA requires about 3.8 billion dollars a year for the shuttle program to remain effective, which is actually less money than they are use to receiving. It costs approximately $20,000.00 per pound to send materials into space currently. Although NASA's goal is to get the cost down to $100.00 per pound it is not likely that this will happen any time soon. Another reason that the space program's cost is so astronomical is the fact that when propelled into space the rockets and other components are not reusable, so a typical launch costs about five hundred million dollars. This statistic alone is more money wasted in one launch then some states spend on education. And now, NASA is requesting an additional 6.6 billion dollars to finish the space station which NASA administrator Sean O"Keefe said, "is within sight of being finished." All of this money that is spent for NASA each year could be applied toward education, better roadways or feeding the homeless. Another negative effect against NASA is the human life that is put at risk each time a shuttle goes up into space.
Since the start of space exploration America has lost twenty-one lives. When a shuttle is on the flight deck waiting to be launched the astronauts on board are sitting on tens of thousands pounds of highly explosive rocket fuel. The launch site where the shuttle sits is almost forty years old and the fleet of shuttles is growing older.