To boldly go...

Sending 90-year-old actor William Shatner into space on Wednesday through the auspices of the private Blue Origin enterprise (see what I did there?) was not a monumental achievement in space science, but it was still significant, I think.

To me, it was more than a bunch of rich white guys playing astronaut with their rockets and space suits. To me, it was moving science and astrophysics to another plateau. It's remarkable to me that the current privatization of space exploration has produced reusable booster rockets that can fall back to Earth and land upright on a target.

The fuel used in the Blue Origin rocket is a combination of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, which leaves no carbon footprint when they react with each other to provide the thrust to reach the Karman Line – the border between outer space and the Earth's atmosphere. Wow.

But through all of this, there is a friction between the need/desire for space exploration versus the need for social justice/awareness.

This friction first caught my attention with the Project Mercury program in the 1960s. I was a teenager and caught up in the excitement of America's fledgling space program. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was the guiding force behind the program, using ex-Nazi's like Werner von Braun – along with millions of tax dollars – to beat the Russians to the moon.

A number of my precocious friends questioned the need to go into space when hunger, disease, homelessness and famine still plagued us on the planet, and it's a worthy question.

But here's the thing: the space program was never a linear project. In finding ways to launch men into space, there was also spawned other sciences, inventions and tools for the benefit of mankind.

Like digital imaging breast biopsy; laser angioplasty and fiber optic catheters; fiber optic forceps; cool suits to lower body temperatures; light emitting diodes to help in brain cancer surgery; programmable pacemakers, and tools for cataract surgery can all trace their roots to space science.

The list goes on: insulin pumps, artificial limbs, Lasik surgery and solar cells, not to mention communication advances, weather satellites and GPS systems.

Space exploration can also help us appreciate the value – and fragility – of our planet. Space science may eventually help us get a handle on climate change.

NASA is operating on an annual budget of $23.3 billion, which is about 0.48 percent of all U.S. government spending. Seems like a bargain to me, given the benefits we now enjoy.

And why would you muzzle the apparently human instinct to explore and find out what's going on beyond the next hill?

So, on the one hand, sending an overweight actor into space might not be the look that is needed to keep space exploration going. It does look pretty frivolous. But on the other hand, the planet's resources are finite – even the sun, our solar battery, will eventually decay and implode. If the human race is destined to go where no man has gone before, it has to start somewhere at some time.