Dear Future President,

Imagine yourself in your yard just relaxing and you look up and see an explosion somewhere in the distance. It’s almost as if you’re watching “Star Wars” ,but the scary thing is; it’s real. If you allow military equipment and personnel into space the ,extremely popular, sci-fi movie series “Star Wars” will become more than just a fantasy.

The issue presented is the militarization of space. Nations want to send military weapons, equipment, and personnel into space. The issue is what weapons and/or equipment should be allowed if any? If we send weapons out of earth's atmosphere, wars will be much larger scale. Can't you see it coming? We have the technology to create spacecraft that houses and launches missiles and other weapons, and that's horrifying.

I am aware that there is already a treaty in place that prohibits any military action in space, but what’s all too real is that any country could secretly build and launch spacecraft. Then another country joins in and it creates a domino effect. Conflicts then arise and guess what it does. It starts a war in space. We need to enforce this treaty as if it's more than just a signed piece of paper. So what I’m asking you to do future president is to, peacefully, make countries realize the dangers of this decision. The treaty was created based on a majority vote. We need everyone to agree that the militarization of space can't happen. That it will change history not for better but for worse.

Some people may say “Oh that won’t happen!” or “maybe it will but it will never get that out of hand!” ,but there is no way to promise this. As soon as military personnel with active weapons are out there, there will be conflicts, and they won’t be pretty.

We can’t let the military control space, because as former president Lyndon Johnson said, “Control of space means control of the world.” Having military access to space could mean certain doom. This isn't something to take lightly. We really need to enforce this treaty to keep people and the planet safe.

Thank you for your consideration,

Lily N.