The History of Space Exploration

The History of Space Exploration

Since the time of the ancient Egyptians, humans have showed an interest in the vast night sky.  Although space exploration really did not begin until the 1960s, progress towards exploring our solar system began as early as the 1910s.  In 1912, a balloon was sent high into our atmosphere over a region in Europe.  The flight of this balloon helped scientists discover cosmic rays.  In 1957, the USSR launched the first satellite into orbit around the earth.  The satellite was known as Sputnik 1.

The Cold War drove early Space Exploration

By the late 1950s, the Cold War between Communist Russia and the US was well underway.  Both of these countries were fighting for the title of "#1 World Power."  Advancements in technology during this time period proved to both the US and the USSR that space travel was not out of the question any longer.  The USSR obviously developed their space programs more rapidly than we did in the beginning since they launched the first successful satellite into an orbit around the earth. Sputnik set the stage for a Space Race between the two nations fighting for supremacy.  Several historic achievements made by both the Soviets and the Americans include:

• Lunar orbits launched by both the US and the USSR.  Many missions were executed due to several failures during the early missions.
• The infamous Apollo 11 mission in which America became the first country to send a man to the moon.  In July 1969, Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins set foot on the moon.  They took home with them 21.7 kg of rock samples.  Apollo 11 was viewed by many as the mission that won the Space Race for the Americans.
•  In 1970, the Soviets successfully landed a ship on the surface of the moon in the mission known as Luna 16.

There were many more missions and fly-by's executed by the US and the USSR in the 70s, 80s, and even 90s.  The Soviet Union ended in 1991, and with it ended the Cold War.  Space missions seemed to decline after the end of the Cold War.  Many Americans began to realize that the competition with the Soviet Union was really their only motivation for exploring space.

NASA ends its Space Shuttle Program

Earlier this year, NASA officially ended their shuttle program that has been functioning for about thirty years.  They were forced to shut down under the Obama Administration, although there is hope of the program returning by the end of the decade. The program officially ended when NASA sent their space shuttle known as Endeavour to California via Aircraft Carrier.  I can only imagine what an incredible sight it must have been.


Works Cited:

Hamilton, Calvin J. "Chronology of Space Exploration." solarviews.com. Views of
     the Solar System, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://www.solarviews.com/eng/
     craft1.htm#moon>. 

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