The idea of humans in space and space travel has been around since at least the 1610s, when a German astronomer wrote to an Italian astronomer, resulting in the invention of a telescope. Tales and stories about space have been around for hundreds of years, but people’s interest grew after reading Jules Verne’s book From Earth to the Moon came out in 1865 and its movie version A Trip to the Moon in 1902. Along with movies and stories, people also found the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union (Russia) very exciting. As of May 1, 2025, China, Russia, and the U.S. have the space program to send people into space. by CNS (China National Space Administration), has projects that send astronauts to space, building a satellite navigation system, explore the Moon, and studying Mars. Russia’s Space program is primarily managed by Roscosmos. They focus on sending people into space, using satellites for the military, and designing space technology. NASA also launched the Europa Clipper, a robot-powered spacecraft that will explore Jupiter’s moon Europa. Scientists believe that Europa might be able to support life because the moon contains a large ocean almost entirely covered in ice and has a thin, oxygen-rich atmosphere.

I believe that NASA should send humans into space, and colonize one of Jupiter’s moons, Europa. One reason, to support my claim is that humans on Earth have the responsibility to protect our species from becoming extinct, and living in space is one way to help do that. According to Britannica, it states that “According to some philosophies, humans are the only beings capable of morality, and, therefore, preserving humanity is the highest moral imperative.” This means that some say that humans are the only creatures that can understand right and wrong, so keeping humanity alive is the most important goal. This shows that humans have a crucial role in keeping our species alive and healthy. Experts, like Gonzalo Munevar from Lawrence Technological University, believe that living in space could bring more clean energy to Earth, give us access to space resources, and help us learn more about space and our own planet.

Another reason that supports my claim is that exploring space is the best natural way of helping humans grow and become more advanced. According to Britannica, it says, “Fred Kennedy, president of the space transportation company Momentus, a space transportation company, argues that a fundamental truth—repeatedly borne out by history—is that expanding, outwardly-focused civilizations are far less likely to turn on themselves, and far more likely to expend their fecundity on growing habitations, conducting important research and creating wealth for their citizens.” This shows that when people focus and prioritize exploring new things and growing they become more productive and keep peace. If people don’t, they can fall behind and become lazy. Therefore, it is important that we need new things that are interesting for humans to explore, in order to keep things in place. Jeff Bezos states that the solar system could support a trillion people.

Lastly, I believe people should explore and live in space because it helps us grow outside of Earth while still taking care of our planet. According to Britannica, it states, “While Earth is experiencing devastating climate change effects that should be addressed, Earth will be habitable for at least 150 million years, if not over a billion years, based on current predictive models. Humans have time to explore and colonize space at the same time as we mend the effects of climate change on Earth.” This paragraph means that although climate change is slowly taking over our planet we have at least 150 million years, showing we have plenty of time to fix Earth’s issues and explore the rest of space.

Some people argue that we shouldn’t colonize space because it would cost the U.S. too much money, we have too big of a mess on Earth, and that we couldn’t manage a whole new planet, and life in space would be miserable. Although, these points are understandable, they completely forgot the long-term benefits that exploring space would give us. Climate change, lack of biodiversity, shortage of natural resources, water and air quality, and so many more issues are all occurring as we speak. Exploring space and building a new colony somewhere can really help our future. There is an urgent need to discover space now, while we still have limited resources, technology, and money. Earth is also being faced with also faces the problem of overpopulation which is also another reason why we need to find and colonize a new part of space.

In summary, humans should work toward colonizing space to protect our future, discover new resources, and continue growing as a species. Settling in Space can help solve problems on Earth, inspire innovation, and ensure our survival if a disaster ever strikes our planet. By exploring beyond Earth, we are not looking away from Earth, we are simply trying to improve the future of the next generations.