For those who accept that premise, it is vital that we get the space shuttle flying again as safely and as quickly as possible. Our very future may depend on it.
To not understand or acknowledge that Earth is but a stepping stone for humankind is to ignore history, reality and Manifest Destiny. Through age, natural catastrophe or by our own hand, life on Earth has a finite amount of time left. For the human species to go on, we must go out into the far and promising reaches of space. We will do this, or we will eventually perish on the stepping stone adjacent to endless possibilities and salvation.
....Human space flight is not a luxury, and the People's Republic of China, above all others, seems to recognize that. The PRC is poised to launch its first astronauts, and with them launch potentially the most ambitious plan ever for humans in space.
They have their eyes on the moon, Mars and beyond. The question for our country is: Do we cede the future of human space flight, and the future in general, to them or another nation?***
Same reason we did: so that they can say they did it. It's an expression of national will, national pride, and also a very valuable means for uniting a populace toward a common goal.
Plus which -- secondarily, it must be noted -- they'll probably learn a lot.
Because eventually someone will pick an unused desert and build a launch platform for an Orion rocket.
Once they do that the first 'shot' will put something the size of an aircraft carrier into space.
Realizing an ancient dream, something America has forgotten.
Need I remind you that although we "did it" in the 1960s, we cannot send a man to the Moon today?