Exploring Space: a Big Leap for Humankind

On July 20, 1969, the United States’ Apollo carrying 3 astronauts landed on the moon. Armstrong who is the first man to ever put foot on a mass outside the earth famously stated that his first step was a huge leap for mankind. While history will forever celebrate this day (and talk has advanced of shipping man to Mars despite astronomical costs and risks), much more progress to human knowledge has been achieved by satellite missions (Hubble Space Telescope, Viking, Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cassini-Huygens, Mars rovers, WMAP, Voyager). Basically these machines, perhaps not as popular as Mr. Armstrong, have provided so much insights about our universe to revolutionize our understanding of it and its origins. While politicians may want to capture the public’s imagination of landing on Mars, it will be useful to remember that dollars spent on (man-less) missions have yielded much more return on investment than any huge spending on a single landing mission ever will. However just like basic economics, politicians seem unable to grasp the basics of how science progress is made: usually in small patient steps rather than with big splashing leaps.