ipl-logo

Argument Analysis: The Space Race

606 Words3 Pages

The argument claims that the money invested in the "Space Race" in the 1960's was well worth the high cost due to the many technological advances and therefore, the government should commit to a Mars Landing by 2020. Stated in this way, the argument fails to mention several key factors on which it could be evaluated. The conclusion relies on assumption, for which there is no clear evidence. Therefore the argument is weak, unconvincing and has several flaws.

Firstly, the author claims that because of the many technological advances due to the "Space Race", a commitment to a manned mission to Mars will produce similar results. Although there are many similarities between committing to sending a man to the moon and to sending a man to mars, it false for the author to assume that there will be similar technological and humanitarian advances. The 1960's is a very different time period from today and as a result, it is unknown whether a manned mission to Mars will prove to be a worthy investment. Additionally, a large part of the "space Race" can be attributed to the competition between the USSR and the USA during the Cold War. The competition for becoming the leader in space technology was very fierce and was very politically driven, allowing for huge amounts of money to be invested in space technology. The politics of the Cold War no …show more content…

Without knowing the expected costs, it is difficult to know whether the investment in the Mars missions is attainable. In addition, it would be important to understand whether the government agencies responsible for space technology, such as NASA, believe that a manned Mars mission by 2020 is possible. It may be understood within the space technology world that not matter what the investment is, not amount of money will be able to produce a manned mission to

Show More
Related
1872 Words | 8 Pages

The role that Reagan’s actions played in ending the Cold War has been a controversial topic ever since the war came to a close. This investigation will show that, to a good extent, Reagan’s actions

Read More
1367 Words | 6 Pages

This agenda was likely a direct response to the Cold War

Read More
570 Words | 3 Pages

Is the underlying reasons for the belief, impression or thought that the US government must continue to invest in NASA overlooked, misunderstood or unheeded. In his essay “Space Technology: A Critical Investment for Our Nation’s Future,” author Bobby Braun builds a cogent, detailed and absorb-ing argument by employing a variety of rhetorical techniques and persuasive strategies, most notably, an array of pertinent facts and statistics, appeal to emotions, and the citing of respected authorities to persuade his audience on why the US government needs to continue investing in NASA. Braun skillfully incorporates facts and statistics to build his argument. For example, aerospace “is the largest positive contributor to our nation’s trade balance” (par. 1) and “Modest sustained federal investment in space technology, at a funding level approaching 5 percent of NASA’s budget (well below the R&D budget of many corporations), is the key ingredient to their success. ”(par. 7) As a result, the use of these facts and statistics helps ground the

Read More
830 Words | 4 Pages

Could you imagine living in a time of constant fear of nuclear war? For many people living today, this was once a daily reality. From 1945 to 1991, the two world superpowers, the United States and the USSR clashed in a series of ideological political battles that completely changed and defined the post-WWII world. This was known as the Cold War. After founding and developing Marxist ideologies over two world wars, the USSR naturally wanted to spread communism across the world.

Read More
505 Words | 3 Pages

Around 1945, tensions began arising between the US and the USSR, which lead to the Cold War. During a 40 year time period, each nation tried to spread their political and economic systems. Both the US and the USSR wanted to spread their ideologies across the world. The origin of the Cold War was distrust; in “fighting” this war, the political and military tactics were the most effective.

Read More
1822 Words | 8 Pages

The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union led to much dispute over the methodology of government. These ideological differences continue to affect society and, even today, tensions persist between the distinct

Read More
879 Words | 4 Pages

After the end of World War II, another widespread, long lasting, war took place, named the Cold War, beginning in 1947, and did not end for over 40 years later, in 1991. Many historians agree that the Cold War began due to tensions between the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. Although, the conflicting points of view did not only last after World War II, they also lasted during World War II, especially after the common threats of Hitler in Germany and Japan were gone. After these large threats were removed, “the split between the allies was inevitable.” The allies, but more specifically, the Big Three, knew that they had to remain allied until the end of the war, despite their many conflicting points of view.

Read More
1261 Words | 6 Pages

In the aftermath of World War II, growing tensions and rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union resulted in the Cold War. Having lasted for much of the second half of the 20th century, this state of economical, political and propaganda-based confront, with a lack of military conflict and open hostility, is considered a turning point in modern history. The root cause of the conflict was fundamentally the belief in completely opposing ideologies. The confrontation between capitalism and communism led to an international power struggle that left the world on the brink of disaster.

Read More
291 Words | 2 Pages

The money coming from taxpayers should not be spent on the space program’s progress in space exploration. The money should be spent on something more realistic for the future generations. They could spend the money on saving the earth’s problems instead of looking for another planet. Also,instead of trying to explore space,the money could go to exploring the oceans. Only five percent of the ocean has be explored.

Read More
1979 Words | 8 Pages

Mount Everest is a huge 8,848 meter mountain in Nepal. In 1953, Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary became the first people to officially reach the top of the mountain by using the southeast ridge route. " Both Tenzing and I thought that once we'd climb the mountain, it was unlikely anyone would ever make another attempt," Sir Edmund says in an interview with National Geographic. "We couldn't have been more wrong".

Read More
1847 Words | 8 Pages

Furthermore, one long-term impact of the Space Race is the improvement of foreign relations as joint efforts between the nations achieved far more with cooperation rather than competition. The Cold War was between two superpowers, both of which tried to compete with each other relying on their own nation’s resources, but in doing so they proved that both sides were capable of great feats. Therefore, when the war ended with a period of detente, the two nations teamed up in 1975 to launch the Apollo-Soyuz project, the first joint US- Soviet space mission. NASA astronauts in an Apollo Command and Service Module met Russian cosmonauts in a Soyuz capsule, but most notably a jointly designed docking module fulfilled the main mission, evidently showing that two different nations with different space-craft had the potential to both dock in orbit. Moreover, the mission itself allowed both sides to alter misconstrued perceptions of the others.

Read More
674 Words | 3 Pages

Colonizing Mars It takes nine months to get to the red planet. Nine long months in a spaceship without much food, oxygen, water, little living space, and only other people to keep you company. Colonization of Mars is not okay because the planet is deadly, the trip is long, and the atmosphere is frigid. Mars is very deadly, unlike Earth.

Read More
940 Words | 4 Pages

• I want you to stop for your second and look at the person sitting next to you. What you are looking at is the fine result of over 200 thousand years of evolution; the master piece of natural selection, and a perfectly adapted organism to life on earth. • But with exponential grow in technological advances, unpredictable climate change or even space exploration.

Read More
765 Words | 4 Pages

Introduction The moon landing was an exciting and phenomenal event, but a mars landing would be even more exciting for humanity. " In college, I wanted to be involved in things that would change the world. Now I am (Iliev, 2018). " These are the words of the man behind the dream and ambition to land on Mars under the SpaceX Program.

Read More
1668 Words | 7 Pages

Space exploration has long been a debated topic. From the days where there was controversy between whether the universe revolved around the Earth, because god made humans special, to whether Copernicus’s idea that the Earth and the other planets of the solar system revolve around the sun was true. Then there was the space race where there was a dilemma based on what was ethical to be produced and sent to space (such as weaponry during the cold war). The more contemporary problem involves the exploration of space and the danger that space debris poses. We must accept however that space is our back-up plan if we were to exploit the Earth to such an extent that we could no longer survive here.

Read More

More about Argument Analysis: The Space Race

Related Topics

Open Document