Viewpoint: We need more (outer) space

What’s reddish-orange, floats and is millions of miles away?

Our neighboring planet Mars, of course.

With its massive volcanos, gaping canyons and rocky surface, the planet’s features are eerily similar to that of Earth, making it even more intriguing.

Although men are supposedly from Mars, the species has yet to set foot on the planet, keeping its mystique very much alive.

Exploration of the planet began in 1964, when NASA’s Mariner 4 was launched to take the first close-up photos of the surface on a flyby mission. The Mariner 9 orbiter provided NASA with valuable information about the planet’s weather, surface and moons after experiencing a month-long storm in 1971.

Finally, in 1976, NASA’s Viking Project landed two spacecrafts on Mars’ surface -- a major accomplishment.

Earlier this week, on August 6, NASA’s Curiosity rover landed safely on Mars, marking the government agency’s sixth landing on the planet.

“The first impression you get is how Earth-like this seems looking at that landscape,” project scientist John Grotzinger said of the planet in a USA TODAY story.

With an increased social media presence for the mission specifically, NASA’s Curiosity rover has gained quite a following -- 1.2 million followers between Twitter and Facebook, to be precise. Social media posts have been witty, contained highly anticipated photos of the planet’s surface and, above all, have made earthlings feel connected to what’s going on millions of miles away.

Anthony Badra, a marketing and sales management major at Missouri State University has followed the Curiosity rover on Twitter to stay up-to-date on the mission.

“I personally believe that NASA’s space exploration is very important because there is too much to find out and too many possibilities to what could be out there, good or bad,” the senior said.

Always interested in space and all that it may contain, Badra said while the Mars landing is a significant accomplishment, it in no way is comparable to having a man step foot on the moon.

Vic Kelman agrees.

“I don’t think we, as a country, support space exploration enough and I think it’s ridiculous,” the soon-to-be junior at Boston University said. “Space exploration is one of the most important things we should be supporting right now. I think it’s important to investigate where else we can live when we ruin our planet forever.”

Space-obsessed Kelman said she senses an apathetic attitude in the American public when it comes to space exploration, especially now that political battles over the great unknown have fizzled out.

When Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969, 530 million viewers tuned in. Even with numerous technological outlets, the major step forward for mankind beat out landing on Earth’s neighboring planet by millions, according to Nielsen television ratings.

So where exactly has the passion for exploring the cosmos gone?

“I feel like no one really cares,” Kelman said. “It’s not on a political level anymore, it’s not emphasized very much and a regular person thinks they can’t understand what’s going on.”

Well, it is rocket science after all, so why shouldn’t we be more supportive? Men and women have chosen to catapult their bodies into the stars just to give us more answers about our surroundings.

The United States, unlike most countries, is fortunate enough to be given the resources for exploration, yet we sit back with an indifferent attitude when we should feel honored to be involved.

Besides, how are we ever going to find out if those little green creatures are our next door neighbors if we don’t support space travel? Wait for them to come to us?

I prefer to be a bit more proactive. And, quite frankly, I think we could all use a little more space.

Dayle Duggins is a Summer 2012 USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent. Learn more about her here.

This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.