What an excellent and thought-provoking article! While I get both sides of the argument, I must say I agree that we should solve the problems we have here on this planet before we even venture to others. Space research is incredible and awe-inspiring, but from a practical standpoint, real people that we know exist are suffering and dying from illnesses and disasters and problems that we could actually help fight. As for right now, we should first put our energy into fixing our situation on this planet before we spend it on exploring others. Now, some research is important to have, but we honestly can’t do anything with that information. However, because some research of space is important, we still have to spend something on it. I think that where we are right now in terms of how much of the budget goes into the space programs is adequate. There isn’t a need to explore deeper into space in my opinion because there isn’t anything we can use that information for. It’s good to have the information we’ve already gathered, but any more than knowing if we’re about to get hit with a meteor is simply a waste because there’s nothing we can apply that to. Once we solve problems here, then by all means let’s go ahead and explore the vast open space. Until then, though, it doesn’t make sense to spend as much time as we do on space exploration when we really can’t get anything out of it. All in all, I just don’t see the point of it when we have issues we know are real and we can do something about right here and right now.