What’s the Point of Sending People Into Space? An Astronaut, Scientist and Journalist Debate.

By David GrinspoonNeel V. PatelKate Rubins and Stephen Stromberg

Dr. Grinspoon is an astrobiologist. Mr. Patel is a science editor in Opinion. Dr. Rubins is an astronaut. Mr. Stromberg is an editor in Opinion.

NASA’s Artemis II astronauts are set to fly by the moon on Monday, in humans’ first trip so far into space since the 1970s. Stephen Stromberg, an editor in Opinion, gathered Kate Rubins, an astronaut and microbiologist who spent 300 days on the International Space Station; David Grinspoon, an astrobiologist; and Neel Patel, a........

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