Many civilians have died in space accidents. Is the knowledge gained from space exploration worth the cost of human lives?

if you supply a method to determine the value of knowledge and human life I'll let you know. Until then that is a question that each person must answer for themselves.

Subjectively speaking, no I do not think so.

Lives have been lost over much less.

Man can't resist conquering anything.Now he is trying to conquer space.and lives have been lost.The question is how much did we gain.I don't care losing life as long as it is not mine.

You are not thinking in the long term. We are gaining much more than knowledge by exploring space. This planet will not always be here. If we don't find somewhere else to live, humanity will cease to exist.

Huge asteroids and other objects hit the Earth on a regular, though infrequent, basis. All of humanity could die in one of these disasters. And of course the Sun will eventually turn this planet into a burned-out cinder when it dies.

We either have a future in space, or none at all.

Please define what you mean by "many civilians have died in space accidents." Do you mean non-military people (the usual meaning), or do you mean people not connected with NASA or other government organizations?

It is important for people(civilian or Military) to find an alternative to Earth. We are consuming and creating Biological and Chemical Hazzards very destructive to people and other living things. What ever problem we have on earth will likely follow to other Planets.
Plus, there are worse things you could do with your life, than Explore Space.

As far as I know no civilians have ever died in space. To the best of my knowledge everyone who has died in space has been of age and has been above average in intelligence, they made their decision knowing all the dangers. As JimGunther pointed out either humanity conquers space travel or we become extinct. Our sun is a star, it will eventually swell 3-5 times its current size and consume earth. If we can colonize mars well get about 8 billion years more. Then our sun will become a black hole and consume our galaxy. As you can see our time here on earth, in our galaxy, has an expiration.

I apologize, didn't mean to beat a dead horse.

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Originally Posted by DuBas07

As far as I know no civilians have ever died in space. To the best of my knowledge everyone who has died in space has been of age and has been above average in intelligence, they made their decision knowing all the dangers. As JimGunther pointed out either humanity conquers space travel or we become extinct. Our sun is a star, it will eventually swell 3-5 times its current size and consume earth. If we can colonize mars well get about 8 billion years more. Then our sun will become a black hole and consume our galaxy. As you can see our time here on earth, in our galaxy, has an expiration.

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Christa McAuliffe springs to mind as an example.

When the sun swells - it will grow too much larger than 3-5 times it's current size - it will actually swell to over 250 times it's current size. However we're still not sure if Earth will be spared or not.
Our sun will not become a black hole. Where did you get that idea from? Even if it did, why do you think it would "consume our galaxy"?

Right. Even a black hole I think is not powerful to swallo a WHOLE galaxy! Anyway, I heard that the sun will swell many times, perhaps will comsume the Earth, but anyway, the temperature will get so high that nearly everything will burn on Earth, and then, the sun will shrink to a dwarf star and eventually 'extinguish'.

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Originally Posted by DuBas07

If we can colonize mars well get about 8 billion years more.

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I think Mars is nearer to the sun, as far as I know. But colonising other planets, perhaps in other solar systems would help, especially if the sun there will be younger than ours.

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Originally Posted by Capuchin

Christa McAuliffe springs to mind as an example.

When the sun swells - it will grow to much larger than 3-5 times it's current size - it will actually swell to over 250 times it's current size. However we're still not sure if Earth will be spared or not.
Our sun will not become a black hole. Where did you get that idea from? Even if it did, why do you think it would "consume our galaxy"?

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I was under the impression all stars with the mass of our sun and bigger become black holes at the end of their life cycle. I was also under the impression the heat given off by the sun will evaporate the entire ocean about mid-way through the process of going super nova destroying any chance of sustainable human life. I heard/read this several times most notable in a speech by a notable astronomer who has done a couple of specials on the discovery channel and has been on book TV a couple of times.(hes black, glasses, late thirties, good speaker, likes to talk about how he is friends with james cameron and had the shot of the night sky in the movie titanic changed to be historically accurate. I think he runs the national planetarium or conservatory.)

Well, there are stars that end up into black holes, and others that do not. I don't know though how to differentiate but, I think that our sun will not end up into a black hole.

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Originally Posted by DuBas07

I was under the impression all stars with the mass of our sun and bigger become black holes at the end of their life cycle. I was also under the impression the heat given off by the sun will evaporate the entire ocean about mid-way through the process of going super nova destroying any chance of sustainable human life. I heard/read this several times most notable in a speech by a notable astronomer who has done a couple of specials on the discovery channel and has been on book tv a couple of times.(hes black, glasses, late thirties, good speaker, likes to talk about how he is friends with james cameron and had the shot of the night sky in the movie titanic changed to be historically accurate. I think he runs the national planetarium or conservatory.)

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You need a star with about 100 solar masses or more to form a black hole.

You're right, human life would probably not survive the sun growing to become a red giant if we were to remain on Earth. Unknown008, Mars is further from the Sun, and perhaps a colony could survive there.

Are you thinking of Neil deGrasse Tyson? He's a fantastic speaker for astronomy and science.

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Originally Posted by Capuchin

Y
Are you thinking of Neil deGrasse Tyson? He's a fantastic speaker for astronomy and science.

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Bingo.

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Originally Posted by JimGunther

You are not thinking in the long term. We are gaining much more than knowledge by exploring space. This planet will not always be here. . . . And of course the Sun will eventually turn this planet into a burned-out cinder when it dies.

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As a biologist, I have to respond to this. It's very unlikely that our species will still be around when the sun begins to evolve into a red giant and envelope Earth a few billion years from now. Most species don't last millions of years let alone a billion or more. I think we'll be extremely lucky to have to deal with the problem of the Earth being burned up by the sun! :)

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Originally Posted by asking

As a biologist, I have to respond to this. It's very unlikely that our species will still be around when the sun begins to evolve into a red giant and envelope Earth a few billion years from now. Most species don't last millions of years let alone a billion or more. I think we'll be extremely lucky to have to deal with the problem of the Earth being burned up by the sun! :)

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There also hasn't been a species with our intelligence before(as far as we know) but yeah were pretty likely to kill ourselves before hand.

I grant your point! :)

But I wasn't making any specific criticism of humans. I was just saying that very few species survive that long. Smart as we are, there's no particular reason we should do massively better than average. Our penchant for destroying our own environment (and make incredibly dangerous weapons) doesn't help, but I was trying to ignore that and just look at it as a matter of how long species normally last.

After a major mass extinction, like the one that got the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, it takes just 5 million years to repopulate the Earth with new species. Species come and go over 1-20 million years, winking on.. . And winking off. That's a very short time in the context of billions of years, when the sun will run out of hydrogen and begin expanding... I don't think we'll be around to see that, let alone worry about it. I think that just as individuals have to confront their own mortality, we might want to give some thought to the idea that our species is mortal too.

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Originally Posted by asking

I grant your point! :)

But I wasn't making any specific criticism of humans. I was just saying that very few species survive that long. Smart as we are, there's no particular reason we should do massively better than average. Our penchant for destroying our own environment (and make incredibly dangerous weapons) doesn't help, but I was trying to ignore that and just look at it as a matter of how long species normally last.

After a major mass extinction, like the one that got the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, it takes just 5 million years to repopulate the Earth with new species. Species come and go over 1-20 million years, winking on . . . and winking off. That's a very short time in the context of billions of years, when the sun will run out of hydrogen and begin expanding.... I don't think we'll be around to see that, let alone worry about it. I think that just as individuals have to confront their own mortality, we might want to give some thought to the idea that our species is mortal too.

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I think we all, somewhere deep down, believe that humans are different. It's hard to come to terms with the fact that we're really not. (Hence religion, etc.)