First Draft

Final Draft

Tori McNamara

Ms. Hagge

AP Language and Composition

05/31/23

Further Faster

In recent years many of the space accomplishments we know of have been thanks to private space companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin. Allowing companies to privatize space exploration has been extremely beneficial for several reasons including lowering prices for tickets to space and speeding up projects that were, at one time, government-funded. Privatizing space exploration also helps get more people interested in STEM careers.

One would expect a ticket on a space shuttle to cost an arm and a leg, but not anymore. A ticket to ride on the SpaceLoft XL from the company UPAreospace would have cost around $350,000 in 2006. In 2018, a ticket on Voyager made by World View only cost around $75,000 (Source D). This shows how drastically prices have dropped now that there are more space companies for them to compete with. According to Spaceport Earth, “The increase in launch competition and drop in launch prices is called that “SpaceX effect” for a good reason. And the company is poised to keep going, using the profits from paying customers to create even more ambitious rockets and spacecraft meant to carry people,” (Source C). Just like in any industry, when competition increases, the prices decrease. When the gas prices on one side of the street increase, the prices of gas across the road will also decrease. 

Lower prices mean more people have the opportunity to travel to space and with this, it “will also help attract students to the STEM fields of education by inspiring the next generation to literally reach for the stars,” (Source A). An increase in students in STEM fields means a growing engineering and space industry in the US which will ultimately help our economy. 

In addition to giving more people the opportunity to explore space, private space companies take some of the burden off of the federal government. According to Nayef Al-Rodhan, “From an operational point of view, private companies are able to implement decisions and fund projects much faster than most governments can,” (Source E). Improving the rates at which projects can be completed allows us to explore more in a shorter amount of time and help push the space industry forward faster. 

Some people may say that privatizing space exploration takes away job opportunities from people in the federal government, but that is not true. Many space companies work with the federal government and, as Kevin McCarthy said “NASA’s Commercial Crew and Cargo program alone has already created thousands of high-quality jobs here in America,” (Source A). The creation of jobs gives skilled workers more opportunities to work in the STEM field and space industry in the US. Increasing the number of jobs in the US also helps our economy by lowing unemployment rates. 

The privatization of space exploration allows more people to go to space because prices are lower and it helps drive the STEM field and space industry by getting more people interested and offering more jobs. Privatizing space exploration allows the government more freedom to focus on other pertinent things in our country while we still progress in the space industry. Allowing private space companies to grow, helps negate “the old idea that space is reserved for stern-faced scientists and military pilots,” (Source C). 

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