Cosmic Queries – Space Exploration

About This Episode

Do we really need a Space Force? Should we create a United Space Agency for the entire Earth? Why haven’t humans traveled beyond the Moon? On this episode of StarTalk Radio, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Eddie Brill answer your fan-submitted Cosmic Queries about space exploration. 

You’ll hear about The Outer Space Treaty of 1967. We ponder the creation of an international space federation –don’t get too excited, Star Trek fans – to represent the entire Earth, similar to the United Nations. Neil explains why this is this most sensible idea if every nation wants to be a player on the space frontier. Find out how land ownership would function on Mars. You’ll learn about the Homestead Act and if we could model land ownership on Mars in a similar fashion. 

Get details on a Space Force-type branch of the armed forces that already exists. We explore the military advantages of space including reconnaissance and satellite work. Investigate just how much “beating the Communists” propelled the United States to get to the Moon, and why we haven’t been back, or further, since. Discover more about the “benefits” of war. Neil shares his vision of what he would want space exploration to look like in the future. Find out if we should send all the world leaders into space to develop their own cosmic perspective. You’ll also hear Neil’s favorite quote about space from Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell. We debate the merit of the International Space Station and if NASA should keep funding it until it’s retired. We also ask, should there be an updated version of ISS?

NOTE: All-Access subscribers can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: Cosmic Queries – Space Exploration.