Neil deGrasse Tyson Response

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s article, “The Case For Space: Why We Should Keep Reaching for the Stars” and radio talk show, StarTalk, featuring the astronaut Mike Massamino, were both extremely interesting and caught my attention immediately. Space itself has always fascinated me because it is the unknown. While people have traveled to space and returned safely with unimaginably great stories, space is still a vague subject. There are still several unanswered questions and I feel that Neil deGrasse Tyson was trying to make that point across to this audience in both his article and in the radio talk show.

            The article and radio talk show had two entirely different tones and styles. Neil deGrasse Tyson’s article was serious and factual. It consisted of the history the United States has experienced throughout space exploration and the journey that has come along with it. It had a political flare to it as well. While reading the article I felt that the audience he was trying to engage was the entire American population so as a country we can establish our issues. The main issue is that the United States does not continue their space exploration unless there is competition, and Neil deGrasse Tyson makes this remarkable point very clear in both his article and radio talk show. It is important to be globally aware but we should not be basing our space missions off of other countries. Astronauts should be going into space to provide us with answers so that we can essentially become stronger as a planet. The enhancement in technology that has ultimately allowed us to go to space with a higher rate of survival and explore safely has helped us tremendously. For instance, Neil deGrasse Tyson mentions that,

“With the help of funding from the National Science Foundation, the Lombardi researches adapted the techniques that the Hubbie scientists were using to analyze the telescope’s blurry images and applied them to mammography, leading to significant advances in the early detection of breast cancer. Countless women are alive today because of the efforts to fix a design flaw in the Hubbie Space Telescope.”

I was not aware of this and after reading it I was in complete shock. By a design flaw, we received a significant advancement in the process of detecting breast cancer. Who would have thought that equipment pertaining to seeing outer space would save millions of women? That’s the remarkable thing about this situation. If traveling to space not only benefits us with being prepared for whatever the solar system may potentially attack us with, it also benefits us on Earth with daily things that we never thought the solar system had any correlation with. For example, Neil deGrasse Tyson goes into specific detail about how Mar's water supply is no longer available so what if that happens to us? The solar system consists of the answers we need and the fact that the United States is not taking advantage of this is appalling. This is the reaction Neil deGrasse Tyson wanted from his audience and he most certainly received it from me.  

            This theme and tone within his article also shined throughout his radio talk show. I believe that the audience Neil deGrasse Tyson was aiming for, again, was the entire American population. In order to create a substantial change within our country we need almost everyone’s active participation and to be one team. While the radio talk show was more comical and seemed less serious, what they were discussing was the exact opposite. Neil deGrasse Tyson at one-point stands up because of his frustration about the situation. He says,

“It’s worse than that. In the 60’s and 70’s there were two space-faring nations, in 2010’s there are still two space-faring nations but one of them is not the United States, it is China. That is the tragedy of this huge...”

He then continues saying how that in order for us to get to Mars, China would have to send out a memo saying that they want to put military bases on Mars. The United States would be on Mars in fourteen months. What he means by this profound statement is that the United States ego is too high and when competition is among us we have to win. Neil deGrasse Tyson firmly believes that the United States needs that “motivating force” in order to accomplish anything.

The idea that the United States is failing to continue to participate in space exploration is foolish is his theme in both his article and radio talk show. He made it extremely obvious to his audience by the time they completed the article or viewing his show. The approach he took on making this point was intriguing. When I saw that I had to read a six-page article and watch a thirty-seven minute video I was not entirely thrilled but truth be told I was hooked once I started both of them. Like stated before, the solar system overall is interesting to me but when reading articles or watching shows about it not many people feel the same way. This stylistic approach of tackling this topic in both ways was pure genius. By incorporating this topic he feels so passionately about in both visual/auditory entertainment, like television or the radio, and writing you get a very large audience, which is exactly what Neil deGrasse Tyson was aiming for.