By Michelle Dang
Staff Writer

Imagine being able to walk on Mars or be face-to-face with the stars. The exploration and research of outer space allows humanity to expand its knowledge of the universe. Continuing to fund space travel will benefit not only the people on the Earth today, by providing jobs and understanding, but also for the future generations.

One of the benefits of space travel is job creation. Under NASA and other supporting projects, there are many different jobs that people can have ranging from lead engineer to student researcher.
NASA administrator, Charles Bolden, published a blog post about the Mars rover Curiosity landing, in which he mentioned, “It’s also important to remember that the $2.5 billion investment made in this project was not spent on Mars, but right here on Earth, supporting more than 7,000 jobs in at least 31 states.”
NASA supports a total of 17 thousand people, employing those who do a variety of space-related jobs.
On top of job creation, space exploration has also provided Earth with technology that makes life easier. For example, NASA’s exploration projects have lead to the creations of appliances like cell-phone cameras and water-filtration systems.
ClassZone wrote, “One of the most important benefits of space exploration has been the development of satellite technology. Satellites collect data from every region of our planet.”
Another factor to space exploration is funding. The percentage of federal spending that funds NASA is miniscule, so it does not impact or affect issues on Earth, like poverty, famine, or disease.
According to Forbes, “For 2016, the NASA budget is $19.3 billion, out of $3.95 trillion dollars in federal spending. That means the U.S devotes about 0.5 percent of its budget to all things space-related.”
Overall, there are many human benefits from space travel. On top of satisfying the innate human curiosity, it also allows for the development and improvment of technology in our every-day lives.
It’s clear to see that, with all the benefits and possibilities of space travel, NASA and other programs should continue to be funded.
As NASA explains, “Space exploration helps to address questions about [our] place in the Universe. Through addressing the challenges related to human space exploration we expand technology, [and] create new industries