With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many details of the Sputnik story have finally come to light. Boston NSS September Lecture Summary by Lynn Olson Carl Sagan said it's either space exploration or extinction for the human race. The first reason is pure survival. If the human race stays on one planet, we're in big trouble. An asteroid or something else could come along and wipe us out.
Life needs to reproduce.
Socially and culturally we need to progress. Seeing the round earth from space was a big thing when it first happened. There is much more in space which can uplift mankind. Materially needs and wants can be addressed as well. Klaes postulated that most people don't care because that don't know.