Nasa

Ever since the beginning of time, mankind has been fascinated with wonders of

space. Before the mid-1900s, all mankind could do was gaze at the stars from

Earth and wonder what it would be like to go into space. Man would look through

telescopes and make theories on how the universe worked. During the mid-1900s,

mankind finally was able to send a man into space and explore the wonders of

space first hand. So why do humans explore space? Well, it is our fascination

with the unknown. At first, all mankind did was look up and wonder how things

became what they are now. We started to think that all celestial bodies revolved

around the Earth, and the Earth was the center of the entire universe. Galileo

Galelie later disproved this theory. Even with growing knowledge in the field,

it was not until 1957 when the first Earth orbiter, the Soviet's Sputnik 1, was

sent into space and placed in orbit at an altitude of 1,370 miles and weighed

184 pounds. Later in that year, the Soviets sent Sputnik 2 into space with a

dog-named Laika. Laika was the first animal to venture into space. Then in 1985,

the United States successfully sent their very own satellite into space. In

1960, the Soviets launched to dogs into space and successfully returned them to

Earth. From this point started the space race. The space race was a challenge

between the USSR and the United States to see who could land a man on the moon

first. In 1961, the first man in space was cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin who was in

space for 60 minutes before returning to Earth in Vostok 1 and was sent by the

USSR. Astronaut Shepard flew the first manned sub-orbital space flight by the

Americans. The first true American orbital flight was by John Glen and he stayed

in space for five hours in Mercury 6 in 1962. Then in 1963, the USSR sent the

first woman into space; her name was Valentina Tereshkova-Nikaleva. They also

had the first person to take a space-walk in 1965. In 1968, the National

Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA tested the first Saturn 5 rocket,

which would be used for the Apollo missions. The first manned Apollo missions

and the first flight around the moon took place in 1968. Finally, on July 21,

1969, the United States placed the first man on the moon winning the space race.

The challenge for mankind at present is placing a human on Mars. We have already

sent probes on to Mars and roamed some of its terrain with the rover known as

Sojourner. Sojourner was taken to Mars on NASAÐ''s Mars Pathfinder and was the

first wheeled vehicle to operate on another planetary surface. The Mars

pathfinder sent photographs, atmospheric measurements, and a few other important

data that will contribute to taking a man to Mars. While pathfinder sent data,

Sojourner examined rocks and soil samples with a camera and Alpha Proton X-ray

Spectrometer, providing useful data on chemical compositions and radiation

bounced back from rocks and dust. The mission finally ended when the Pathfinder

stopped responding to commands from NASA. NASA has sent two other probes to

Mars, but both malfunctioned and were destroyed on impact on the Martian

surface. The US and a few other countries have joined together and are

constructing the International Space Station or the ISS. The ISS is scheduled to

be completed in 2004 and will be continuously occupied by up to seven

crewmembers. The space station is envisioned to be a world-class research

facility in which scientist can study Earth and space, as well as explore the

medical effects of long durations of weightlessness in space and the behavior of

materials in a weightlessness environment, and the practicality of space

manufacturing techniques. Now, the future of space exploration depends on many

factors. Some of these factors are as followed: how much technology advances,

how political forces change rivalries as well as partnerships with other

nations, and how important space exploration is to the general public. NASA is

working on a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicle, but until it is until then,

NASA plans to us the space shuttle fleet to the year 2012. It is clear that

mankind has devoted itself to the exploration of the unknown and that we are

committed to find new planets on which man cal live and prosper. Missiles were

first used to take man into space. In the Gemini and Mercury missions, missiles

without warheads and a compartment for the astronauts was used to get into

space. On the other hand, the Saturn 5 Rockets were used in the Apollo missions

to reach orbit and land on the moon. This method became too expensive so NASA

was forced to develop a reusable space craft. As a result, NASA designed the

space