Matthew HoffmanProfessor TheisEnglish 104 12:30-1:4504/5/14English 104: Research PaperThe Influence of Space Flight on the Development of Human Society: Why We Should Keep Going into SpaceSince as long as we as a species can remember, space and the stars have always had a specific place in our culture. In many religions the stars are considered the birthplace or home of the gods, in science it is the cob of the unknown. It is the epitome of what we perceive as “out of reach”. But our understanding of stars and space in general has changed dramatically over the past few centuries. The higher we look, the more we recognize our place in this universe. But over the last hundred years, our understanding of space has grown exponentially. But none more so than in 1969, when a small band of brave men walked out of our known world. To the moon. The overall effects of this event were much more than just a boast to the Russians, it was the singular turning point in what we believed we were truly capable of. In the years following this spectacular event many things happened, our understanding of space and our perception of our home planet changed radically. However, one of the things that happened was that we lost focus on further exploration, it was decided that space was no longer relevant to our daily lives and therefore NASA funding was reduced. It was decided that other issues were more important. This however is not entirely true, and while some immediate issues are more important than promoting space exploration, they do not deserve the huge amount of budget cuts it has received. Not NASA specifically, but space exploration in general, has such a wide sphere of influence that it is difficult to perceive... half of the paper... that was passed from one country to another was often controlled by the government or sources media, and even then it took weeks for the information to spread across the country to actually become public knowledge. Yet now, with our massive network of communications satellites, important information can spread like wildfire almost instantaneously. Barriers between countries become less solid, as people are able to communicate. In recent years, the national community has increasingly become a global community of citizens, who all speak, all share. I also have some friends in the UK and Switzerland, with whom I am regularly in contact via communication applications such as Skype. None of these things would be possible without the ability to launch satellites into space or the ability to send strong, reliable signals in real time over long distances..