What do you think is coolest

[remcook]

make your choice

[remcook]

oh..I forgot...of course there are more things that I find cool. Just check the thing you think is coolEST.

[remcook]

if someone wants to elaborate...be my guest

[LunarOrbit]

I picked "Human spaceflight" because I can relate to humans more than I can robots. Sure we can send a robot to Mars to do a lot of the work, but does the robot understand the true significance of what it is doing?

A human astronaut knows they are doing something unprecidented and they get excited by it, and their excitement gets passed on to me vicariously.

I've seen pictures of cities far away that I have never visited... it's not the same as actually going there.

So that is why I find human spaceflight more "cool" than anything else. It doesn't mean I don't enjoy the pictures the Mars rovers are sending back... they're just a temporary solution until we can get humans there.

[remcook]

I don't know why, but I never really had a passion for human spaceflight. Maybe it's because humans were stuck in earth orbit in my lifetime so far. Now reading up on Apollo. Maybe that helps. And if there is real hope for humans going to the moon or even mars, I think I'm much more enthusiastic. I also never wanted to be an astronaut.

NEXT QUESTION: who wanted/wants to be an astronaut?

I always liked the exploration of our solar system. Such bizarre and fascinating worlds! And so close by. I like things to be within our grasp....I don't care much about terraforming or space elevators or far away galaxies. I want something to be excited about in relatively short terms.

Hopefully the both above can be combined soon.

[RedWhiteArcher]

Well first I choose human space flight but I had humans on other planets in my mind at that time and after the vote I saw planetary exploration and I changed my mind. And then I found out you can change your vote soo...

[Sarah90]

Would reiterate what LunarOrbit said.   Is obviously necessary that we use our technology to examine all areas first ...But, in the end, as when we humans experienced - vicariously (good one LO!) - via the whole team who worked on  every earth orbit and moon orbits, and ... landed us on the Moon, ...and every single solitary person along this incredible way to Mars and Jupiter and Saturn, and out beyond Pluto...it is the human quality and capacity not only to envisage, but also to relate to the rest of us earth-bound critturs, the ...essence... of all of those experiences.

So, from the visionaries, and the scientists, the techs,  the engineers, to the people who trusted in them and went where few of us would ever have the gump or capacity to venture ... (and tarnished frequently by commercial and political ...crap...)...  it's human beings who have gone through this, and who increase and augment our ...curiosity and understanding ...not only, but also more and more about our own world, and ...phew...BEYOND.