Student+In+Space+-+Nikki

Choice #1 Everyone’s place, the adult astronauts are secured in the orbiter and mission control is ready for blast off in "-5...4...3...2...1...Blast Off!" The takeoff was successful; mission control is clapping, and the success of the mission...in the hands of the adult astronauts. I wonder though, why do we only hear of adults going into space, there's never a child or a teenager or anything of that sort. Why would that be? Is it stress, is it knowledge, is it money, I don't know. Should a student go into space? In my opinion I think some factors say do put a student in space, but other factors show me that it might not be a very wise decision. When you think about space and the mission in a student’s view, it is different. This difference could lead to new discoveries and bigger opportunities. Let’s say NASA planned to land the orbiter on the moon, take some pictures and then come back. This could be very practical. A student might suggest that we go beyond taking pictures. They might mention something like instead of taking pictures, why don't we spend a couple hours scouting the land and getting rock and dust samples. This is just an example, but as you can see the student would try and experiment beyond the expectations. Even though a different perspective might lead to new discoveries, there are basic factors that would be very inconvenient to NASA's program. When an adult goes up into space, they usually have years of training and a college degree. To get a student in space would require a great amount of money on training and there would be no degree. When thinking about the mission, a student might not have the knowledge needed to complete the mission, therefore the mission would be a waste. NASA's extra money on training and the mission for the student would have gone down the drain. If the mission was to fix a probe on the moon, the student might not have been capable to do his/her part from a lack of training. The effects; a severely damaged probe, an unsuccessful mission, etc. Whereas, a trained adult with more knowledge would successfully complete the mission. So when you take all of this in, I have to go against students in space, because the odds are that the mission won’t go as smoothly as planned (but a student on the planning team might actually be to NASA's advantage).

Choice #2 Even though I am against sending a student into space, would I like to apply and try to actually go into space? Oh yeah! Who wouldn't? I might be a lot scared, but it would be a once in a life time opportunity to travel into space. Although my parents would be extremely nervous if I did go into space, I have always wanted to see what it felt like to be "weightless". The idea of floating around and doing flips in the middle of nowhere just intrigues me. Also, I would love to look out the window and see Earth as it really looks. The pictures taken from space of Earth would not be as memorable as looking at it from space it’s self. By applying for the first student in space, I would not only have a once in a lifetime experience, but I would also become known country-wide (which could be a bad thing). Applying for the first student in space would blow my breath away and answer most of the questions I have about being in space. Although I don’t think that students should be in space I would love the opportunity of being in space and definitely would apply.