Spaceflight
Spaceflight is the use of rocket technology to send spacefaring modules or vehicles into outer space. Modern spaceflight has its origins in the Nazi V2 rocket program during World War II but officially began in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit. Spaceflight has continued to expand and develop.
History
Space Race
Off we go! Until we meet again soon, dear friends!
— Yuri Gagarin, Vostok 1
The Space Race was a decades-long competition between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War to develop and improve their space-faring technology. The race resulted in huge scientific developments for humanity, including satellite technology, human spaceflight, and exploration of the Moon, Mars, and Venus, including orbits, touchdowns, photography, and robotic traversal of these bodies. The contest originated in the military arms race of the 1950s, but by the signing of the Outer Space Treaty in 1967, it had transitioned to a peaceable, symbolic contest of technological achievement. Open competition began when the United States announced in 1955 that it would launch a low-orbit satellite during the International Geophysical Year two years later. However, the Soviets beat the Americans to their own objective with the launch of Sputnik 1 ("satellite" in Russian) in 1957. The United States created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, the following year and began to significantly ramp up funding space travel. However, the Soviet Union would continue to lead in spacefaring milestones for decades.
The US Apollo program resulted in the only human moon landings to date, sending 12 men to the lunar surface. The first landing came at the height of a wave of unrest and struggle in the United States; Apollo 11 is the subject of the well-known Gil Scott-Heron poem "Whitey on the Moon", which begins:
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face and arms began to swell.
(and Whitey's on the moon)
I can't pay no doctor bill.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
Ten years from now I'll be paying still.
(while Whitey's on the moon)[1]
1980s
When the Soviet Union began experiencing the crisis and decline of the 1980s, the US initiated the Space Shuttle program, a partially reusable low-orbit craft, during which two disasters, the infamous Challenger and Columbia explosions, killed a total of 14 astronauts. The program was finally retired in 2011 after it had partially achieved its goal of helping to build the International Space Station.[citation needed] After the end of the Space Shuttle program, NASA began to pivot to private contractors.
Present day
NASA Commercial Crew Program
Russian space travel
The Russian agency Roscosmos has taken over for the Soviet space program. Russia continues to be one of the only states with an independent space program.
Advent of Chinese space travel
The People's Republic of China carried out its first crewed spaceflight in 2003 and since then has ramped up its space program to be on par with Russia and the United States.
Milestones
The spacefaring and rocket technology of the Soviet Union was far out of proportion to its relatively small population and economic output and remained far superior to that of the United States until well into the Cold War. One of the most lasting achievements of Soviet astronautics is the Soyuz rocket family, first developed in 1966, which has been used by several countries, including the United States, over 1,900 times, making it the most used rocket type in history. When the US retired the Space Shuttle in 2011, Soyuz rockets became the only way for humans to get to the International Space Station until the 2020 flight of SpaceX's first manned rocket.
Achievements of the Soviet space program
- First human in space, and first to orbit the Earth: Yuri Gagarin, 1961. Raised on a sovkhoz; survivor of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.[2][3]
- First and to-date youngest woman in space: Valentina Tereshkova, 1963. Daughter of two kolkhoz farmers.[4] In contrast, NASA would not admit female astronauts until the 1970s.[citation needed] When NASA finally sent a woman to space in 1983, the American press asked her whether the flight would affect her reproductive organs, and if she would cry in a stressful situation.[5]
- First person of African descent, and first Latin American, in space: Cuban Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, 1980. Orphaned as a child and raised in a working-class family.[6]
References
- ↑ Madrigal, Alexis C. (28 May 2011). "Gil Scott-Heron's Poem, 'Whitey on the Moon'". The Atlantic. Retrieved 26 Jul 2023.
- ↑ Tito, Dennis (28 Nov 2006). "Yuri Gagarin". TIME Magazine. Archived from the original on 26 Mar 2008. Retrieved 23 Jul 2023.
- ↑ Moskvitch, Katia (4 Apr 2011). "Yuri Gagarin's Klushino: Forgotten home of space legend". BBC News. Retrieved 23 Jul 2023.
- ↑ "Valentina Tereshkova". National Air and Space Museum. 6 Mar 1937. Retrieved 23 Jul 2023.
- ↑ Ryan, Michael (20 Jun 1983). "A Ride in Space". People. Retrieved 23 Jul 2023.
- ↑ "Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez". CubaMilitar (in español). Retrieved 23 Jul 2023.