Apollo 17 Astronaut Future Astronauts Criticism of human spaceflight comes from many quarters.
Some critics point to the high cost of manned missions.
They contend that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has a full slate of tasks to accomplish and that human spaceflight is draining funds from more important missions. Other critics question the scientific value of sending people into space. But the actual experience of astronauts and cosmonauts over the past 38 years has decisively shown the merits of people as explorers of space. Human capability is required in space to install and maintain complex scientific instruments and to conduct field exploration. These tasks take advantage of human flexibility, experience and judgment.