Thursday, August 22, 2019
Two Milestones In The History Of Space Exploration Essay Example for Free
Two Milestones In The History Of Space Exploration Essay The subject of space conquest has been a very interesting aspect of human history for the past few decades. Although to date, we already use advanced technologies, high-powered telescopes, satellites and spacecrafts, it would still be helpful for us to look back through time and consider the beginnings of space exploration. We will do this by studying two important events that enabled humanity to realize the possibility of conquering space.            On April 12, 1961, Moscow Time, the world entered the realm of outer space flight when the spacecraft Vostok 1 carried to outer space the first human being to ever orbit the earth. The name of the cosmonaut to first orbit the earth was Yuri Gagarin. Zal (2002) wrote an interesting record of the Vostok 1 flight as follows: â€Å"The launch vehicle blasted off nearly as scheduled at 09:06:59.7 Moscow Time and the orbital insertion looked nominal to Gagarin. However unknown to the pilot, the core (second) stage of the rocket burned longer than scheduled, leaving the spacecraft in a 327-kilometer apogee orbit, instead of planned 230 kilometers. It meant, that in case of a complete failure of the braking engine, a natural reentry of the spacecraft caused by the friction in the upper atmosphere would take place at least five days after a 10-day supply of vital life-support consumables onboard Vostok would run out†.            When the Russian government launched the Vostok 1 project and chose Yuri Gagarin to be on board, there was no complete certainty that the mission would work out one hundred percent successful. Two years earlier, the first artificial satellite to enter geocentric orbit, named Sputnik 1, burned into space as it attempted to reenter the earth’s atmosphere. Previous unmanned test launches of Vostok 1 prototypes turned out to be failures. â€Å"Out of seven prototypes of the Vostok spacecraft flown (Versions 1K and 3KA), two spacecraft did not reach orbit due to the failure of the launch vehicle and two vehicles did not complete all their tasks†. (Zal, 2001)            A few hours before the flight of Vostok 1, it encountered a strange problem. During the closure of Gagarin’s capsule hatch, one of its sensors suddenly would not turn on. The hatch had to be re-opened to activate the sensor and everything went back to normal. Later however, the spacecraft, was able to successfully get out of the earth’s atmosphere. Its flight around the earth’s orbit took a total of 108 minutes.            The plan regarding Gagarin’s reentry into the earth was that he would detach from the spacecraft and enter the atmosphere by a capsule. Strange as it may seem, the capsule took ten minutes longer than expected before it actually detached from the spacecraft. This is crucial because any miscalculation and digression from the plan may cause the capsule to explode in the atmosphere. According to Gagarin, he experienced rapid spinning and extreme heat as the capsule began to enter the atmosphere. In the midst of the turmoil, Gagarin sent a message to the ground monitors which will later become an inspiration for other cosmonauts for the years to come: â€Å"Everything OK†.            Needless to say, Yuri Gagarin successfully returned to earth and was regarded a hero by Russian authorities. His name also changed the history of space exploration forever.            Meanwhile, if Yuri Gagarin was the first person to orbit the earth, Galileo Galilei was the first person to use a telescope to study the moon and other heavenly objects. What he did was improve the newly invented spyglass (invented in 1608 by a Dutch spectacle maker)[1] and turned it skyward in an attempt to study elements in outer space. His findings were shocking to the people of his time. Galileo found out that the moon doesn’t have a smooth surface, just like everyone supposed. In fact, it was full of rocky terrain and craters. He was also the first to discover sunspots, the four large moons of Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn.            Although Galileo’s findings were challenged and was not generally accepted by the religion of his time, still he was able to contribute to modern space conquest and research. Isaac Newton, in 1750, improved Galileo’s concept of the telescope. In future centuries, telescopes of a greater and broader view of the universe were invented. Among these far reaching telescopes are the Keck Telescope, the Very Large Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope. According to Mould, Geffner and Lesser (1991), the Keck telescope is 33 feet in diameter, situated 33,000 feet above sea level in the Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The Very Large Telescope, a European project, is 52.5 feet in diameter and situated in the mountains of Chile. The Hubble Space Telescope is a satellite telescope and can see images in outer space up to 14 billion light years away.            Galileo’s basic findings through the telescope evidently paved the way for giant leaps of astronomical findings in future years and gave us a better understanding of the universe. Works Cited: Bellis, M. (2005). History of the Telescope – Binocular. Retrieved September 1, 2007, from http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bltelescope.htm Mould, J.A., Geffner, S.L., Lesser, S.M., (1991). General Science (3rd ed.).     New York: Amsco School Publications. Pogge, R.W. (2006). Lecture 16: The Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei the  Telescope. In An Introduction to Solar System Astronomy (Astronomy 161). Retrieved September 1, 2007, from http://www-astronomy.mps.ohio- state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/galileo.html  Zak, A. (2001). Vostok 1: Dawn Of Human Space Flight. Retrieved September 1,        2007, from http://www.russianspaceweb.com/vostok1.htm            [1] Although the credit for the invention of spyglass or early telescope was often given to Hans Lippershey of Holland, there was no sufficient evidence that he was the first to make one. See Bellis (2005).
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