Space Travel Is The Way Of The Future

I'm always arguing this point with somebody, it's nice to know I finally have legitimate back up. I like to argue it from the point that we can harness man's more aggressive tendencies in conquering space and space travel. We have no idea what we could find and use in the asteroid belt to help us stop destroying the planet we currently live on. Star Trek shouldn't be just a tv show, it should be a dream that we all aspire to achieve. Man enjoys exploring, let's explore space.

ABC News: Hawking Says Humans Must Go Into Space: "The British astrophysicist told a news conference in Hong Kong that humans could have a permanent base on the moon in 20 years and a colony on Mars in the next 40 years.

'We won't find anywhere as nice as Earth unless we go to another star system,' added Hawking, who arrived to a rock star's welcome Monday. Tickets for his lecture planned for Wednesday were sold out.

He added that if humans can avoid killing themselves in the next 100 years, they should have space settlements that can continue without support from Earth.

'It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species,' Hawking said. 'Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.'

The 64-year-old scientist author of the global best seller 'A Brief History of Time' is wheelchair-bound and communicates with the help of a computer because he suffers from a neurological disorder called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

Hawking said he's teaming up with his daughter to write a children's book about the universe, aimed at the same age range as the Harry Potter books."

Which is a good thing since that seems to be where science is stuck in this country. I read A Brief History of Time (sometimes very slowly), which I found to be fascinating but extremely difficult. Then I found out it was supposed to be a coffee table book, the kind you display to show how erudite you are but nobody really reads it.

Let's get a viable space program on its way. It doesn't have to be government financed, let the corporations have at it. If they can see the benefit (making obscene profits in the future, just like the present) they would spearhead the movement. Just think, AT&T could have galaxy communications instead of global, Exxon could mine the belts for new energy sources, Wal-Mart and McDonalds would be able to open new stores as destination spots. With a little imagination more corporation would come with their own new marketing strategies and off we go into space travel.

We have to do something because trying to bomb each other back to the stone age is even less productive.

Tags: Stephen Hawking, space travel, star trek, science, children's book