Since its conception, space exploration has captured the imagination of many in a limitless frontier, where ingenuity has no limits and social barriers do not hinder humanity's collective quest for knowledge; However, when considering the implications of space exploration, advocates must recognize the financial costs of frequent space travel, exploitation of otherworldly resources, and disease contamination from other planets. Despite these various oppositions to the progress of space exploration, its benefits have far outweighed its costs as space exploration has benefited the American economy, aided in innovative research, and enabled countries around the world to collaborate and improve their diplomatic relations with each other. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Space exploration advocate and enthusiast David Livingston says the benefits of space exploration offset its costs. He postulates that money spent on space exploration is naturally dispersed throughout the American economy, which in turn helps medical research, home building, and so on (Livingston). He goes on to further accentuate his argument by articulating the purity of space as a frontier untouched by human greed and conflict and, therefore, is an exemplary environment that can become future ground for greater collaboration between nations without the hindrance of foreign conflicts and special interest groups. which have long prevented fruitful diplomatic relations (Livingston). This claim is further promoted by Michael Collins, one of the first men to visit space, as he states that if influential figures such as politicians saw the Earth free from the shackles of preconceptions and prejudices, space exploration could reinvigorate humanity's zeal for environmental conservation and inspire the average man to protect and nurture his fragile earthly home. By uniting beneath the pristine frontier of space, nations around the world would not only improve their relationships with each other, but also address the problem of Earth's rapidly dwindling natural resources, revitalizing conservation efforts through combined collaborations. The Tax Foundation presents a visual representation of how each federal tax dollar is spent. In support of Livingston's argument, the data presented in the graph presented by the Tax Foundation shows that only about $0.06 of the federal tax dollar is actually spent on space exploration compared to other categories such as Social Security, where the majority is spent part of the tax dollar. . In addition to the low percentage that space exploration takes up in a federal tax dollar, other categories, such as agriculture, must share the $0.06 with “space and technology” (Chamberlain). The small proportion that space exploration actually occupies is further supported by evidence that claims made by Margaret McLean, an author at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, highlight the outrage that many American citizens feel when the government spends around five billion dollars in grants to fund NASA. Compared to other government expenditures, however, NASA funding takes up less than 1% of American taxes (McLean). Americans often forget that without the new discoveries provided by space exploration, the inventions – like GPS – that society relies so heavily on would no longer be feasible or even accessible. Margaret McLean highlights issues related to space exploration.