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Examples of human interest in space
The history of space exploration
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Space Exploration Space is full with more stars than we can possibly imagine, and surrounding those stars are many planets. Every since Galileo turned his telescope toward the stars in 1610. The search for life on any other planet has been an ongoing endeavor. At first, we wondered what was out there, and then we wondered what life might be on any of the planets we saw. Then we wondered how many planets there were. That evolved into the stars and the realization that those stars have planets of their own. Moving us onto the question of what life might reside on those planets. The search started even before we had space travel available to us. For many years, humans have wondered if we were alone. If there are any other, intelligent life forms out there. Even prior to us having had any comprehension of the vastness of space. We wondered if we would find extra-terrestrial life in outer space. Alternatively, if some other life form might find us here on earth. We have many ways that we have been …show more content…
President Dwight D Eisenhower established (NASA) in 1958. The agency was mainly civilian not military, to encourage peaceful applications in space science instead of show of military power. NASA took off literally, beginning with rockets that flew faster than anything before. Progressing all the way to unmanned space missions. Launching satellites into space. NASA has made countless advances in the space program. To date NASA has had 166 manned space missions. (Wikipedia 2015). There are nine more launches scheduled before the end of 2015. These advancements were not without their own form of tragedy. Sadly, we have lost a total of 14 dedicated astronauts in two accidents. One of the shuttles exploded while leaving the earths atmosphere and the other disintegrated upon reentry to
"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," said by Neil Armstrong as he took his first steps on the moon during the NASA Apollo 11 expedition to the moon. No man has ever been to the moon before and NASA, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was the first to get someone to land on the moon. NASA has had many great accomplishments in exploring the "new frontier" that have affected the United States ever since it was first created in July 1958. The idea for NASA first started when the Soviet Union launched the first satellite on October 4, 1957. United States started up its own space travel program and started to work on its own projects that would be better in than the Soviet Union's. This all started the great space race. It was a big race between the Soviet Union and the United States to see who could learn and discover the most. The United States and Soviet Union started building and sending satellites and space ships. Then they tried to see who could make a suit and ship that would be able to allow a living thing to go up in space. They tested out all of the equipment with monkeys and dogs, seeing what would work. Many animals did die in the process but by the results of their testing they were able to build suits and ships that allow human beings to go up in space. Even though they were able to create these machines, that doesn't mean that they didn't have their difficulties and dangers. Two space shuttles were crashed or blown up. There were many key factors that they had learned to fix that resulted in the crashing of those ships. They have made many discoveries and accomplishments like having the first astronauts walk on the moon.
history. It managed to send the first human into orbit and to the moon. The discoveries, NASA have made in the recent decades have enabled us to have more knowledge of planets and stars, and resources way beyond this planet. In another hand, reasons as to why the U.S. Government should continue to fund NASA 's space program is a huge deal today. With the ideals that American tax dollars should be spent on more important things and that companies are now able to construct their own rockets that are able to send people on excursions into space, really is what challenges government support and true betterment of
Space travel began in the 1960s with sending humans on single missions into space. Rockets launched into the air and just the tip would land in the ocean after parachuting back to Earth ("Space Shuttle Program," par. 4). The focus of space exploration changed during the 1980s; shifting from the desire for human space flight to the desire to create a reusable spacecraft. Originally called Space Transportation System (STS), NASA created the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) (Heiney, par. 1-2). It wanted a shuttle that was more economical because it could be launched, landed and relaunched and could gather better information. The 1980s began a new era in space exploration and had one the biggest tragedies in the history of space travel.
After World War II both the United States and the Soviet Union realized how important rocket research would be to the military. So they each hired the top rocket scientists from Germany to help with their research. After they hired them both sides were making a lot of progress. The Space Race began in 1955 when the Americans announced that they would start launching satellites into orbit. The Soviets took the US announcement as a challenge and established a group whose goal was to beat the US in putting a satellite into orbit. Even though the United States started the competition the Soviets still won because they launched the first successful satellite into orbit, put a dog into outer space and also put the first man into outer space. Some might say that the United States won because they put the first man on the moon, which was a huge feat made by the Americans. So for winning many missions against the U.S. the Soviets won the Space Race.
The tension that existed between the U.S. and Russia during the years after WWII was not only a time that both countries patiently tried to keep the world from another war, but was also a time of great rivalry in the exploration of space. As both counties diligently experimented with plans for creating a way to get into the vastness of space, spies on both sides were already in place to steal those ideas. And so the space race begun. Both countries wanted to be the first to succeed so millions were spent as the world watched as the U.S. and Russia went head to head in a battle that would change the world forever.
It is without a doubt that the most fascinating thing about space is the possibility of life elsewhere beside Earth. It is estimated that the Milky Way Galaxy itself contains about 300 billion stars. Each star contains planets and some planets might even have moons. With these findings, the question is no longer whether life exists elsewhere. The probability that Earth is the only place where life exists in the universe is far too slim. NASA has identified many planets that have similar conditions to Earth but most of these planets are hundreds of light years away so traveling there to find out if there’s any living organism is not easy. Luckily, scientific evidences have pointed out that one of the moons of Jupiter, Europa, could be one of the places where life can exist. If the theories proposed by astronomers about Europa are true, life on Europa might not even be entirely different than life near the bottom of Earth’s oceans.
The space programmes of both the USA and the USSR became perhaps the most important prestige projects of the Cold War. From the launch of Sputnik - the first artificial satellite - in 1957, through to the first human space flight by Yuri Gagarin in 1961, the first moon landing in 1969, and beyond, both superpowers invested huge amounts of money in order to outdo each other in the so-called ‘space race’. At the time, this was a convenient project to choose: while it allowed the two nations to compete in a supposedly peaceful area, proving their scientific achievements, the work on rockets also fed directly into work on the inter-continental ballistic missiles which would allow them to strike at each other with nuclear weapons in the event of war. Since the end of the Cold War, however, the future of space exploration has become less clear. Russia no longer has the resources to invest in a substantial space programme; without an enemy to compete with, the USA has also cut back on its exploration programmes. The emphasis is now on missions which are ‘faster, better, cheaper’ – grand projects such as the Voyager missions of the late 1970s seem unlikely to be repeated. In particular, the commitment to manned exploration of space has almost disappeared; although potential missions to Mars are occasionally mentioned in the press, there are no solid plans to send human beings to another planet in the short to medium term.
Humans have dreamed of leaving the earth and traveling space for many years, and up to this day they have taken many steps in the right direction. Yet, with every new frontier they approach, new problems loom over the horizon. All problems involved with space exploration may not directly involve space itself. Many of those problems surface right here on Earth. Some of the easier issues have been resolved, such as escaping the forces of gravity to reach outer space. More of these problems are far more arduous and the solutions need more time to be worked out properly. In “The Coming Schism” by James E. and Alcestis R. Oberg, humans have already begun colonizing space, yet there are still new problems arising. Major problems such as financing, communication and culture conflicts are important in the journey to space, because they all have the potential to disrupt progress.
Aside from all the negative remarks made about space exploration there is lots of innovation stemming from it. Exploration of space has directly and indirectly helped create new technologies and advancements that have directly benefitted our lives. The challenge of space exploration drives a continuing effort to design ever more capable, reliable, and efficient systems requiring the utmost ingenuity. Space exploration missions use the unique capabilities of humans and robots to achieve ambitious exploration goals. Maximizing these capabilities of humans and robots for the productivity of these missions drives progress in human health care, robotics, automation, and other domains. (International Space Exploration Coordination Group, 2013, para.22) A vast amount of technologies such as GPS navigation, weather, cell phones, are all things that would not have been possible without technologies created for the exploration of space. The truth of it is that every step forward we make in space exploration not only advances our knowledge of the Universe, but also it shows us the new height human innovation and technology can achieve as a result of this. (Jessa, T, 2009, para.3) We in our everyday lives are surrounded by a vast amount of technologies developed for space exploration. For example, the artificial heart resulted from experiments on the space shuttle and a partnership with renowned heart surgeon Dr. Michael Debakey. The hand held Jaws of Life used to save victims from car wrecks originated from the system used to separate the space shuttle from its booster rockets. Even the insulation that keeps our homes warm and energy efficient is based on the technology used to insulate the space shuttle." (Jessa, T, 2009, para.4) There a...
Human fascination with the stars is as ancient as Babylonians and has been suggested to be older than Stonehenge. From “be fruitful and multiply” to “live long and prosper,” the instinct to protect and propagate the species has manifested in religion, art, and the imaginations of countless individuals. As human understanding of space treks out of the fantastical and into the scientific, the realities of traveling through and living in space are becoming clearer. Exploring, investigating, and living in space pose an expansive series of problems. However, the solutions to the problems faced by mankind's desire to reach beyond the horizon, through the night sky, and into the stars are solutions that will help in all areas of life on Earth.
Has anyone ever wanted to travel to Mars, or even just visit space to see Earth from above? Those things and a vast variety of other things are possible through the development of new technologies that carry the human race through time and make space exploration possible. “The whole idea of getting to know space and its secrets and how it can benefit mankind is what space exploration is all about” (“Space Exploration” 1). Throughout time, the human race has been very curious about learning more in depth about the unknown, from the first discovery of fire, to the new views on life, to space and sea exploration. In the present age space exploration has become a top priority in understanding unanswered questions. These upcoming understandings of new technologies benefit our Earth and life through advancements in technology, science, and medicine. Space exploration has become very popular in countries all over the world, and each country strives to better understand the earth and its surroundings and to develop technologies that change the world forever.
Mankind has always been fascinated with exploring the unknown. From sailing to distant lands to someday setting foot on other planets, the spirit of exploration is the same. Bur now with the current economic situation and the high cost of sending people to space, NASA is being looked at as a way to free up some much needed funds. Although, there is many problems here on planet Earth that need addressing, the benefits of space exploration far out weight the disadvantages. Space exploration has given us more advanced technology, advances in the medical field, and a boost to the economy and these facts cannot be disputed.
The 1960's brought new advancements for all of Earth. Machines and men were sent into space, and this sparked a new government agency, called NASA. Space was a new frontier, and virtually everyone was interested in exploring it. Over the years, the interest in space exploration has weakened, and NASA was almost terminated from existence, although there have been many advancements in it over that time. Space exploration should continue because it could help solve many problems on Earth, such as overpopulation and lack of resources. Exploration of the final frontier must continue in order for human life to continue.
By being in a very technologically advanced era, scientists can invent revolutionary devices never thought of. NASA is doing that right now and has been doing that since it began. They are not only climbing the stairs in space exploration but in the medical industry, too. Nevertheless, they are forever changing millions of lives by using all they have discovered. Most of all, they are teaching people a life lesson, to always use the things you have for the greater good. NASA has achieved profound success ever since their start in 1958 and they will continue to make discovery and innovation their first and foremost goal for years to come.
“Sheltered as we are by Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field, which deflect lethal radiation from space, we are like coddled children who have never ventured into a tough neighborhood” (Folger 2). Humans have been fascinated with space since the beginning of our time. Just like children and rough neighborhoods, we have tackled obstacle over obstacle to make it home again. In the end, we have a better knowledge and strength than before. The future of space exploration can assist us in answering the everlasting question of how the universe came to be. The more we explore the infinite galaxies, the more we can scientifically discover and create new technologies as science advances. As we continue to discover, we can create new fields and occupations for aspiring young students like myself.