Is outer space travel worth it for the acquisition of knowledge?

 Astronauts and cosmonauts spend a big chunk of their life studying astronomy and undergoing isolation training to take place in outer space expeditions in order to collect planet samples and perform surveys for a decade or more. They might not get to see their children grow up, nor have a chance at a normal life. Yet, for the acquisition of knowledge, they are passionate enough to throw it all away and dedicate their lives to outer space travel. Countries spend billions of money and resources on fuel, rocket blueprints, rocket parts and rocket simulations. 




Is the knowledge we acquire really worth it in the end? The answer might be subjective due to the depth of knowledge regarding the subject varying from person to person. An informed opinion would be that it is worth the sacrifices because collecting planet soil and air samples would help scientists judge if it was suitable for migration if Earth was reaching its limit as a planet where humanity can prosper. 


However, what if these resources were allocated to finding solutions to the presently inevitable unsuitability of Earth's atmosphere with humans? Is the acquisition of knowledge about outer space even required if humans made use of these resources and found a solution? If so, why?


Humans have long sought to find existing solutions to stunt the issues of global warming and consequently climate change on Earth, but to no avail. Science still hasn't grabbed the attention of the whole world, and many still blindly rely on religion to guide them. Thus action isn't taken even though there is ample amount of evidence and explanations for what is happening. Moreover, I reckon that the desire to explore outer space would exist regardless, because of a knower's endless passion to acquire more and more knowledge about his/her surroundings. The human population continues to steadily increase along with improvements in education and healthcare, and the Earth would be too small for humanity at this rate. Interspace travel would become more common, interacting with other intelligent species would be a lot more probably, and the shared knowledge among knowers would increase once again.

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