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It's not just about exploration, its about survival of the human race, and as far as we know the only life in the universe. As of right now if a big enough rock comes our way we're fucked. There's also fun stuff like gamma ray bursts which can fry the planet and polar shifts (we're due for one very soon) which could lead to mass extinction. If you don't know what a polar shift is it's when the magnetic field of the plant literally flips (so your compass would point south instead of north), and this could lead to very dramatic changes in the way many things work on the planet. It happens like clockwork every once in a while and we're due for one any time now - it could happen tomorrow. Also don't forget the magntic field of the planet protects the planet from massive amounts of solar radiation, it's literally a planetary forcefield which pushes solar particles out of our way.. without it everyone on the planet would be dead.. and it would be a painful death. Then there's the issue of population.. we're rapidly approaching the point where the planet just simply will not be able to support the amount of people we keep squirting out. All human's could be gone from existance 6 hours from now.. I dunno about you but I think if we can get a few of us to another planet (or even the moon) to live to prevent our extinction we should move heaven and earth to do it.
These manned missions are only the first step in a looooooong journey, and all we've really done so far is tie our shoes.
As for the size of the pictures, you'll have to talk to the guys at NASA about that one.. all i did was copy/paste.
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We Must Dissent.
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