A Political Cartoon Analysis

Pictures are not made without a reason. Every visual construct has some underlying purpose. Often times this purpose is to express the thoughts or emotions of its constructer. Political cartoons are used to this effect. These cartoons speak volumes about a period or event in time. If a picture truly is worth a thousand words, a political cartoon is worth one thousand one. Political cartoons are almost always drawn from the ideas of the public. Because of their significance to an event in time, they can be examined to reveal the opinion of the people during the time frame. Cartoonists are voices of the public and Greenberg is not an exception. Greenberg is a notable cartoonist, responsible for a great number of works. One of his cartoons, named

The materials to build a shuttle must be top tier materials. Every time a shuttle launches, some parts are damaged beyond repair and must be replaced. Fuel for a shuttle is also expensive. People must be paid to build the ship and must be paid to work ground control. These expenses, along with others, begin to add up quickly. NASA reported that their average launch costs $450 million (2015, Bray). These funds are being used to do scientific research to help society. Spending that much money just to see space seems ludicrous. However, as Greenberg points out in his cartoon, money has power. A study was done in 1980 to see how many were interested in space tourism. This study found that “over 40 million people would like to take a trip on a space shuttle, and some 55 million would like to take a cruise ship-like space trip” (2015, Chang). In 1994 it was projected that space tourism could bring in about $50 million annually (2015, Chang). Comparing $450 million to the projected intake of $50 million shows just how expensive it would be. $50 million is a large price tag for a suborbital

A day may come with the public will change its opinion to be contrary to the one shown in Greenberg’s cartoon, but until that day comes, space tourism is not practical. It has been forecast to bring in a large amount of revenue, but the current cost versus the amount of money expected to be made yields little to no profit. A serious business like space travel cannot survive with no profit. The cost of refueling, repairs, and maintenance of the shuttles is substantial. Profit would have to be made to make the endeavor worth continuing. As it stands the cost of launching a ship is far too expensive and dangerous to be worth the effort of pursing it for commercial