Space: The final frontier is a quote from the opening of the television show

Star Trek: The Next Generation, set in the far future, and follows humanitys travel
through deep space and discovering distant worlds. This quote states that space is the
final step for humanity, and should be the ultimate goal. But based on recent
developments, modern humanity is ignoring this possible goal, with the drastically
lowered funding to NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Although
the cost of space travel is high and possible immediate benefits are low, space is the
next step for humanity, and increased funding to NASA will allow us to improve our
technology, relations with other countries, and discover new findings about our universe.
As seen with the ISS (International Space Station), space travel promotes unity
because of its overall benefits for humanity, and with the reinstatement of funding for
NASA, government led space travel can reap the benefit of international alliance. The
ISS has housed citizens from 18 different countries, all without hostility or competition,
because the common goal is the advancement of humanity. An increase of money into
the program would allow the ISS to be improved, fund other projects so more countries
can get involved, and overall strengthen the technology to provide higher possibilities
for more discoveries. Although funding for these sorts of projects are very expensive,
the money for it can come from other sources, such as the US military funding. The US
spends over $580 billion on military funding, and if only 5% of that was moved to NASA,
it would be an extra nearly $30 billion into space travel. With that money, great
advancements can be made, increasing the potential of the program, and with that,
increasing the potential of international cooperation in the field of space travel.
Along with cost, another issue about space travel is the fact that there is little
immediate benefit. Based on the technology that we currently have available, we have
no feasible way to travel lengthy distances through space with a human on board.
Although this is quite true, if little funding is given to the program, then very little
progress will be made whatsoever. In order for extensive advancements to be acquired
in the future, progress must be made now in order to reach that point one day. For
example, the planned colonization of Mars in the year 2020 proves this perfectly. Mars
is a very empty and barren planet, and will most likely not provide any substantial
benefit from the planet itself. But, the excursion allows for a different benefit, in the form
of knowledge and experience. Once man has successfully colonized Mars, humanity
will have learned from it, and be able to figure out which parts went well and which went
wrong. This added knowledge will allow us to perfect the methods used, and find ways
to extend the journey and colonize other planets.
Based upon the path humanity is traveling down now, the Earth will not support
our rapid urbanization for much longer. Overpopulation, pollution, destruction of
environments, and various other factors add to the damaging of our Earth, and may
possibly render it unlivable in time. If the damage we cause every becomes irreversible,
then the colonization of other planets will be our only salvation. As mentioned before,
we cannot currently travel to planets that are not in very close vicinity, but in the future
this technology may be possible. If little funding is given to NASA, then little progress
will be made, and finding planets other than Earth will forever be but a dream.
Although humanity has made leaps and bound in the field of space travel in the
past century, there is still much more progress that can be made. Government funded
space travel may not be the only method that exists today, but it would allow for many
nations to work together, and provide great collaboration and expertise in the field,
providing the best safety, ingenuity, and results. The funding for NASA must be
increased in order to raise our capability for space travel, and to possibly conquer the
final frontier of space.