Space Chronicles Summary

If you took one heat dispersing tile on a space shuttle and heated it up tp red hot with a blowtorch, in the time it would take to put the torch down, the tile would already be room temperature again. This is just one of the numerous innovations in technology created by the push of mankind into space. In his book Space Chronicles, Neil DeGrasse Tyson addresses the ideas, motivators, and benefits of space exploration. In this book, he addresses the idea that we need not only need to continue exploring space, but we need to make it a top priority. As mentioned, innovations in space “cross pollinate” with scientific and technological fields on earth. If NASA and all exploration into space is given the support that it deserves, then it will be

Because of the space race, we pushed the boundaries of humankind past lower earth orbit, also known as LEO, and created a new industry. When addressing this, Tyson writes “Right now, plenty of business is going on in LEO, all the consumer products at thrive on GPS, DirecTV, satellite cams” (Tyson, 76). Because we pushed the boundaries, we created a new and innovative industry that gave the economy a boost. Many companies today rely heavily on technologies like GPS or satellite cameras. When we went into space, we created a new and innovative industry that gave the economy a boost. So many companies nowadays rely heavily on things like GPS or are only existent because of this new area of economics and business. If we continue to push these boundaries, we will once again discover new, world changing industries that would have never been created had we not gone farther into space. Another benefit of space exploration is boost that it gives the economy. When Tyson is preaching the benefits of increased funding for space exploration, he writes “20th century USA as much of its strength and economic security to it support for science and tech” (Tyson, pg 150). The USA experienced an incredible economic boom after the space race, and the space race is more responsible for that than anything else. As said, the space race pushed boundaries, and

rooms all around the globe. When kids see images of earth from space, and astronauts floating around space stations like balloons, they are inspired to learn and push themselves to be that person one day, almost the same as people are inspired by Olympic athletes to push their bodies. Right now, NASA is not pushing those boundaries they once were, and that is reflected on the people of the USA. At one point, Tyson writes “Studies have shown that inly 20-25% of American adults can be considered scientifically literate” (Tyson, 58). Right now, people are scientifically illiterate, and because of this they are vulnerable to lies about our world and everything in it. If people were once again inspired to learn and take advantage of their brains, then there would not be those vulnerable people, who are constantly being taken advantage of because of their ignorance. One result of increased funding for NASA, according to Dr. Tyson, would be increased support for science and math in schools. When Tyson is considering what would happen if there were another space race type scenario, which would result in more funding for NASA, he says that “money would be pumped into college teachers and research” (Tyson, pg 125). If NASA and space exploration in general was made a priority, then education would also be made a priority. In the world today, we see firsthand what a good education can do, and with more support