PART II: RESEARCH TOPIC
An Intensive Essay Presenting
Jasmin Gonzalez
Barr: Dual Enrollment English Composition II – Period #3
Thursday, April 5, 2021
Gonzalez
“I think fundamentally the future is vastly more exciting and interesting if we're a spacefaring
civilization and a multiplanetary species than if we're or not. You want to be inspired by things. You
want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great. And that's what being a
spacefaring civilization is all about.”
– Elon Musk, 2017
Gonzalez
Outline
Stakeholder I topic: a discussion on the support SpaceX provides towards Elon Musk’s mission to
travel, and possibly colonize, to Mars. Viewpoints are towards the idea that it is necessary to make a
big leap for the sake of the future existence of humanity.
Stakeholder II topic: opposing viewpoints towards humanity traveling, and possibly colonizing,
Mars. Viewpoints are toward the idea that humanity is not ready for such a big leap towards the
future because we currently still face many social, environmental, ethical, and moral problems that
should be given more attention to.
Gonzalez
Stakeholder Essay I
After Apollo 11 in 1972, which was NASA’s last moon landing to this day, funding for
NASA slowly began to diminish as well as the excitement and enthusiasm for space travel. However,
in 2002, a company by the name of SpaceX was created by an entrepreneur named Elon Musk who
formed this company with the initial intent to be able to fund NASA, revive the enthusiasm for
space exploration, and to possibly make humanity become an interplanetary species on our
neighboring planet, Mars.
SpaceX, however, underwent many obstacles and challenges. Elon Musk had poured
thousands and thousands of dollars into his company and lost many of it through many rocket
failures. One of the main reasons as to why Elon Musk suffered so harshly is because of his
innovative idea to make the first stage of his rockets reusable. To do this, he planned on having the
rocket launch but, as it reached a certain height, the first stage would separate and aim to land itself
on a separate launch pad specifically for that stage. This, of course, would be the first of its kind as
no one has ever done something like this before and because of this, Elon Musk did not receive
much support especially from other companies like NASA. However, in 2008, SpaceX’s Falcon 1
successfully launched and landed its first stage, proving everyone wrong!
Many other successful and historical launches following this would be other rockets like
Falcon Heavy, the world’s most powerful operational rocket, which successfully landed both of its
side boosters post launch in 2018, further showcasing SpaceX’s capability to make their rockets
reusable. Last year, in 2020, SpaceX also launched its first crewed mission to the International Space
Station on American soil for the first time since 2011 on a rocket called Crew Dragon on a
demonstration flight. Not only did this mark history with launching Americans from American soil
to the ISS, but it also was the very first manned mission on a SpaceX rocket!
Gonzalez
Following these many successful launches, Elon Musk began conducting high-altitude test
flights on Starship rockets that he plans to potentially take humans to Mars. In December 2020, the
first starship called SN8, successfully launched however, its descent was too fast, and it exploded.
The result for SN9 was also a failure as one of the Raptor engines did not relight. On March 3rd,
SN10 experienced a rupture in the oxygen tank that possibly caused it to explode however, this did
not occur until after it landed! Starship test flights are currently still being tested and more future
flights and planned to proceed.
Regarding concerns about humanity becoming an interplanetary species, Elon Musk once
stated that, “I think fundamentally the future is vastly more exciting and interesting if we're a
spacefaring civilization and a multiplanetary species than if we're or not. You want to be inspired by
things. You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great. And that's
what being a spacefaring civilization is all about.” Musk also deems exploration and colonizing
another planet necessary for the expansion of humanity and to be able to not only rely on Earth for
resources.
Conclusively, SpaceX, and other companies and agencies like NASA, are making it more and
more possible for humans to go to Mars each year. However risky the mission may be, it is
becoming a more relevant, necessary, and exciting topic especially as we are still currently
experiencing these historical events continue to unfold.
Gonzalez
Works Cited
James, Chris. How to Get People from Earth to Mars and Safely Back Again, 2020.
K.D., Zachary. “Elon Musk's Best Quotes On SpaceX & Mars.” Elon Musk Quotes, Elon Musk
Quotes, 7 Dec. 2016, elonmusknews.org/blog/elon-musk-spacex-mars-quotes.
NASA. “We Persevere.” YouTube, 7 July 2020, youtu.be/6qA9iaAUo8k.
Anslow, Louis. “SpaceX : a History of Fiery Failures.” Medium, Timeline, 1 Sept. 2016,
timeline.com/spacex-musk-rocket-failures-c22975218fbe.
Speed and Altitude at First Stage Separation of Falcon 9 and Heavy,
forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=34464.0#:~:text=Quote%20Approximately%
20161%20seconds%20into%20flight%2C%20the%20first-
stage,MECO%2C%20the%20first%20and%20second%20stages%20will%20separate.
“Elon Musk Extremely Emotional Reaction To Falcon Heavy Launch.” YouTube, YouTube, 11
Feb. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK6FSK98asc.
spacexchannel. “Crew Dragon's Second Demonstration Mission.” YouTube, YouTube, 29 Sept.
2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMi_m9-e9MU.
Billings, Linda. “Should Humans Colonize Mars? No.” Taylor & Francis, 24 July 2019,
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14746700.2019.1632524.
