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Revision as of 04:22, 20 December 2005
Space exploration is the physical exploration of outer-space objects and generally anything that involves the technologies, science, and politics regarding space endeavors.
It was given a boost by the launch of Sputnik 1, the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, which set off the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Two other famous achievements in the early days were putting the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok 1, and the first people on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin aboard Apollo 11 with Michael Collins. After 30 years of competition focus has started shifting from competition to cooperation and from one-off flights to renewable hardware and most recently to the building of extra-terrestrial launch platforms, such as from a space station and possibly from the Moon.
Orbiting and reaching space
From a spaceflight perspective, the definition of space usually used is that space begins 100 km (62 miles) above Earth's surface. The United States sometimes uses a 50 mile definition. (See boundary to space.)
Achieving orbit is essential for going anywhere else, such as to the Moon or Mars. The first successful orbital launch was of the Soviet unmanned Sputnik I mission on October 4, 1957. This spectacular success led to an escalation of the American space program, and to an undeclared Space Race between the two superpowers. Soviet dog Laika became the first animal in orbit on November 3, 1957. The first orbital flight made by a human being was Vostok 1, carrying Yuri Gagarin on April 12 1961.
One can distinguish the sub-orbital spaceflight and the orbital spaceflight (cf. Difference between sub-orbital and orbital spaceflights). As for sub-orbital flights, on October 3, 1942 an A4 rocket, a prototype for the German V2 rocket bomb, became the first successful launch of an object into space. The first organisms launched into space were fruit flies and corn seeds aboard a U.S.-launched V2 rocket in July, 1946. Another milestone was achieved on May 17, 2004 when Civilian Space eXploration Team launched the GoFast Rocket on a suborbital flight, the first amateur space flight. On June 21, 2004, SpaceShipOne became the first privately-funded manned spacecraft.
Space agencies
Brazilian Space Agency
The Brazilian Space Agency, founded in 1994, directs one of the youngest space programs. Brazil's space program is the most advanced in South America. It suffered a major setback in 2003 due to a rocket explosion that killed several technicians. They had their first success on October 23, 2004 with a VSV-30, or Brazilian Exploration Vehicle, launched on a sub-orbital mission. The agency's primary launch site is at Alcântara.
Canadian Space Agency
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA or, in French, the ASC) is the government department responsible for Canada's space program.
It was established in March 1989 by the Canadian Space Agency Act and sanctioned in December 1990. The agency is led by its president, who reports to the Minister of Industry.
China National Space Administration
The China National Space Administration is the civilian agency in the People's Republic of China that is responsible for national space policy. The agency was created in 1993 when the Ministry of Aerospace Industry was split in two, with the other part being the China Aerospace Corp. China became only the third country on Earth to send a human into space independently on October 15, 2003 when Yang Liwei piloted the Shenzhou V mission, accomplishing 14 orbits before returning to Earth the next day.
On October 12, 2005 China sent its second spacecraft into space, the ShenZhou 6. The ShenZhou 6 carries 2 astronauts and it stayed in space for 5 days. The China National Space Administration agency allowed most television stations in China to broadcast the blast-off.
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA), established in 1975,is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to exploration of space with currently 17 member states. Its headquarters are in Paris, France. ESA has a staff (excluding sub-contractors and national space agencies) of about 1,900 with a budget of 3 billion euros in 2005.
Federal Space Agency of Russian Federation
The Russian Federal Space Agency (FKA, Roskosmos) (in Russian: Федеральное космическое агенство) is the government agency responsible for Russia's space science program. It was formed after the breakup of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Soviet space program.
Indian Space Research Organisation
The Indian Space Research Organization, also known as ISRO, was established on August 15, 1969 under the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India. It manages all of India's space activities, and has a well developed space programme.
ISRO has capability to build and launch satellites up to 2000 kg into polar and geostationary orbit. It has 2 major satellite launch vehicles called PSLV (Polar satellite launch vehicle) and GSLV (Geostationary satellite Launch Vehicle). Most of ISRO's programs are geared towards nation building, though there are a few efforts in scientific research and space exploration. ISRO has started the work on its first Unmanned Lunar program called Chandrayan-1 (Moon-Ship-1) which is slated to be launched by 2007.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
The Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency, or JAXA, is Japan's aerospace agency. It was formed October 1, 2003, by the merger of NASDA, the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan and the Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (United States)
In July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). When it began operations on October 1, 1958, NASA consisted mainly of the four laboratories and some 8,000 employees of the government's 46-year-old research agency for aeronautics, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).
National Space Agency of Ukraine
The National Space Agency of Ukraine (NSAU) is the Ukrainian government agency responsible for space policy and programs, established in 1992. It oversees Ukraine's national and commercial space research, construction, and launch programs. Launches are conducted in Kazakhstan, Russia, and on the Sea Launch platform.
Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Pakistan)
See Suparco.
Criticisms
It is more expensive to perform certain tasks in space with humans rather than by robots or machines. Humans need large spacecraft that contain provisions such as a hermetic and temperature controlled cabin, production of breathable air, food and drink storage, waste disposal, voice- and other communication systems, and safety features such as crew escape systems, medical facilities, etc. There is also the question of the security of the spacecraft as whole; losing a robot is nowhere near as dramatic as human loss, so overall safety of non-human missions isn't as much of an issue. All of these extra expenses have to be weighed against the value of having humans aboard. Some critics argue that those few instances where human intervention are essential do not justify the enormous extra costs of having humans aboard.
Other critics, such as the physicist and Nobel-prize winner Richard Feynman, contend that space travel has never achieved any major scientific breakthroughs. However, others counter-argued that there have been many indirect scientific achievements: development of the modern computer, lasers, etc.
Some critics contend that in light of the huge distances in space, human space travel will never be able to do more than achieve an earth orbit or at best visit our closest neighbours in the solar system, and even this will consume large amounts of money and will require complex spacecraft that will accommodate only a handful of people. Supporters of human space travel state that this is irrelevant, because its real value lies in providing a focal point for national prestige and patriotism. They suggest that this was the reason why the Clinton administration cooperated closely with Russia on the International Space Station: it gave Russia something to take pride in, and as such became a stabilizing factor in post-communist Russia. From this point of view, the ISS was a justifiable cash outlay.
Some people also have moral objections to the huge costs of space travel, and point out that even a fraction of the space travel budget would make a huge difference in fighting disease and hunger in the world. However, space exploration itself receives a very small percentage of total government spending (nearly always under 0.5%).
Overall, the public remains largely supportive of both manned and unmanned space exploration. According to an Associated Press Poll conducted in July 2003, 71% of US citizens agreed with the statement that the space program is "a good investment," compared to 21% who did not (Pollingreport.com).
Timeline of space exploration
1957-1975
Project Vanguard was transferred from the NRL to NASA immediately before launch.
The Soviet Union had attempted an earlier rendezvous on August 12, 1962; However, Vostok 3 and Vostok 4 were only within five kilometers of one another, and were in different orbital planes. Pravda, however, did not mention this information and indicated that rendezvous had been accomplished.
post-1975
| Date | First Success | Country | Mission Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 2 1978 | Non-American and non-Soviet in space |  USSR
|
Soyuz 28 |
| April 12 1981 | Reusable manned spacecraft |  USA-NASA
|
STS-1 |
| June 13 1983 | Extra-solar system spacecraft | USA-NASA
|
Pioneer 10 |
| September 11 1985 | Comet probe | USA-NASA
|
International Cometary Explorer |
| April 28 2001 | Space tourist | File:Russia flag large.png Russia USA
|
Soyuz TM-32 |
| June 21 2004 | Privately developed manned spacecraft | USA-MAV
|
SpaceShipOne 15P |
Reusable spacecraft
The first reusable spacecraft, the Space Shuttle, was launched by the USA on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight, on April 12, 1981. During the Shuttle era, six orbiters were built, all of which have flown in the atmosphere and five of which have flown in space. The Enterprise was used only for approach and landing tests, launching from the back of a Boeing 747 and gliding to deadstick landings at Edwards AFB, California. The first Space Shuttle to fly into space was the Columbia, followed by the Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. The Endeavour was built to replace the Challenger when it was lost in January 1986. The Columbia broke up during reentry in February 2003.
The first (and so far only) automatic reusable spacecraft was the Buran (Snowstorm), launched by the USSR on November 15, 1988, although it made only one flight. This spaceplane was designed for a crew and strongly resembled the U.S. Space Shuttle, although its drop-off boosters used liquid propellants and its main engines were located at the base of what would be the external tank in the American Shuttle. Lack of funding, complicated by the dissolution of the USSR, prevented any further flights of Buran.
The Space Shuttle is due to be retired by 2010, and due to be replaced by the Crewed Exploration Vehicle which may be itself be reusable. However, complex reusable spaceplanes are hard to justify next to cheaper and safer expendable rockets.
See also
Unmanned missions
Main article: Unmanned space missions
- Pioneer program
- Luna program
- Zond program
- Venera program
- Mars probe program
- Ranger program
- Mariner program
- Surveyor program
- Viking program
- Voyager program
- Vega program
- Phobos program
- Discovery program
Animals in space
Humans in space
Main articles: Astronauts and human spaceflight
- List of human spaceflights
- List of human spaceflights chronologically
- List of human spaceflights by program
- Vostok program
- Mercury program
- Voskhod program
- Gemini program
- Soyuz program
- Apollo program
- Salyut program
- Skylab
- Space Shuttle program
- Mir
- International Space Station
- Shenzhou spacecraft
- Crew Exploration Vehicle
- Vision for Space Exploration
- Aurora Programme
- Tier One
- Human adaptation to space
Recent and future developments
- Exploration of Mars
- Future energy development
- Space tourism
- Private spaceflight
- Space colonization
- Interstellar spaceflight
Other
External link
- http://space.skyrocket.de/
- http://www.planet4589.org/space/
- http://www.nasa.gov
- http://www.spacefacts.de
- http://www.vastbeyond.com
- http://www.space.com
- http://www.spacelist.org
- Universe Today - space news from around the Internet
- National Space Society - non-profit organization that promotes a spacefaring civilization
- Recent Developments In Space Exploration
- Benefits of Space Exploration - bibliography fom NASA.gov
- Technology Spinoffs from Space Exploration - NASA.gov
- 20 minute video essay on space exploration
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