Why Take A Risk?
The Possible Dangers of Space Exploration
Fires
Right now we will talk about one specific that happened during a launch. It is the Apollo 1 mission. Sadly all of the astronauts on board died. What happened was a fire in the capsule caused pressure which caused an explosion. (pg. 21) There last words were, “We’ve got a bad fire- Let’s get out… We’re burning up.” This was followed by a cry of pain. (pg. 21) That is the first reason.
Health Hazards
Furthermore, there are health hazards. A lot of astronauts have had to be carried off the shuttle because there is no gravity in space and their bodies are not used to the gravity in space. (pg. 11) “Doctors say that the human body loses one to two percent of bone mass for every month in space.” (pg. 11) This means you get weaker for every month you are in space. Then you would have to go through months of physical therapy. Why go through all that trouble?
Bad Re-enty
Finally, you could also have a bad re-entry. The Columbia and its crew were destroyed and killed. (pg. 40) The shuttles entire system started to fail during the landing. There was increased wind resistance on the left wing. The landing gear tires lost all pressure and all this happened in eight minutes just before they crashed. That was the last and one of the scariest reasons why not to go into space.