EDUCATION BENEFITS
No enterprise has so stirred human imagination as the reach of man toward the exploration of space. New worlds to explore. New distances to travel—3,680 million miles to Pluto, the outermost planet of our solar system, 8 years journey at 50,000 miles per hour when we attain such a capability. Innumerable problems ahead. New knowledge needed in almost every branch of science and technology from magneto fluid dynamics to cosmology, from materials to biology and psychology.[67]
"New knowledge needed" means better and stronger education is essential. And not only in the physical sciences. In the social sciences and the arts as well.
Certainly man's space adventure can help profoundly to make a finer creature of him, but only if his adventures on Earth can do so as well. Essentially what this means to a social psychologist is that we must somehow raise our level of education to the point where most men most of the time can appreciate and actively absorb the implications of knowledge and developments in all areas sufficiently to let them enrich their personal philosophies. Obviously this kind of education is only in part a scientific one.[68]
Moreover, the technical and management aspects of the space program involve collaboration with nonscientific persons such as businessmen, bankers, and public officials in assessing worthwhile objectives and in judging the technical and economic feasibility of projects designed to accomplish these objectives.[69] Consequently each type must educate the other in his own specialty if an effective, stepped-up space program is to be achieved.
The demand
Apparently the demand for specific formal education in the science of astronautics is increasing faster than it is being supplied. Although many colleges and universities have been setting up courses dealing with astronautics, the state of the art does not seem to have crystallized to the extent that it permits fashioning a career in the field at the educational level. Of course, discontent is created. One publication has editorialized:
We have received a surprising number of letters from young people who actually want to know how and where they can get started in a career in astronautics. These, for the most part, are high school students—and, evidently, they couldn't get the information they wanted from their own school. * * * Isn't the age of space yet important enough for all the high schools to sponsor interest in our space programs and to point out the need for a constant flow of young brains?[70]
The answer undoubtedly is that such grassroots demand will bring about increased academic curricula in astronautics in direct proportion to its magnitude.
Meanwhile, the availability of work for persons with a background in space-related subjects can be gaged to some extent by observing the variety of personnel requirements on major space exploration projects.
A single American firm, for example, uses 49 different professional specialists in its work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and in its space work for the Department of Defense.[71] Multiplied by the thousands of companies which are doing similar work, the list gives an idea of the astronautic demand confronting the Nation's educational institutions:
Acoustician
Aerodynamicist
Aeronautical engineer
Agricultural engineer
Astrodynamicist
Astronomer
Astrophysicist
Biochemist
Biophysicist
Ceramics specialist
Chemist
Computer specialist
Crystallographer
Development engineer
Doctor of medicine
Electrical engineer
Electronic engineer
Experimental physicist
Flight engineer
Gyroscopics specialist
Hydraulic engineer
Information theory analyst
Inorganic chemist
Logical designer
Magnetic device engineer
Mathematician
Mechanical applications engineer
Mechanical engineer
Mechanisms specialist
Medical electronic engineer
Metallurgical engineer
Methods engineer
Nuclear physicist
Oceanographer
Organic chemist
Physical chemist
Pneumatic engineer
Process engineer
Production engineer
Project engineer
Psychologist
Reliability engineer
Sociologist
Solid state physicist
Structural engineer
System analyst
Theoretical physicist
Thermodynamicist
Transducer engineer
Figure 14.—Exploration within the solar system means a wealth of new knowledge which could lead to learning the secrets of life.
V. Long-Range Values
In assessing the practical values of space exploration it does not seem logical to limit considerations to those values which are immediate or near-future ones. The worth of a present activity may be doubled or trebled because of its long-range potential.
Such values may not be practical within the context of today's usage, but they may be extremely practical if we are willing to concede that those of us living today have an interest in and a responsibility for what happens on Earth in the decades and centuries to come.