Why Explore Space?

A NASA scientist responds

Earthrise, taken on December 24, 1968, by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders

In 1970, a Zambia-based nun named Sister Mary Jucunda wrote to Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, then-associate director of science at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, in response to his ongoing research into a piloted mission to Mars. Specifically, she asked how he could suggest spendin…