At the end of July the second richest man in the world, Amazons Jeff Bezos, plans to blast himself into space, a project that has prompted a satirical global petition asking him to stay there. If the history of human space exploration ended at that moment, with the phallic self-launch of a narcissistic tax avoider, it would be a bathetic endpiece to a remarkable story that began with Nazi weaponry and has encompassed arguably the greatest achievement to date of human civilisation.
It is nearly 50 years since people last walked on the surface of the moon the moon! in an age with no internet or smartphones, driven there in rattling tin cans at unimaginable speeds by huge controlled explosions. Boosters of the modern app economy love to claim that right now the pace of technological change is the fastest it has ever been, but they are somehow forgetting the period between 1957, when the USSR put the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit, and 1969, when three men flew to the moon and two of them descended in a separate spacecraft, walked around collecting rocks, and then blasted off again, docking with the original spacecraft, before flying back to Earth and splashing down safely in the ocean.
The vehicle that had pushed them laboriously out of Earths gravity well was the Saturn V, still the largest rocket ever built, a 36-storey-high behemoth designed under the guidance of Nazi rocket scientist Wernher von Braun. The inventor of the V2 rocket, which terrorised London from late 1944, Von Braun surrendered to the Americans at the end of the war, was gratefully transported to safety in the US and put in charge of designing rockets for ballistic missiles with which to nuke the Soviets.
But Von Braun still dreamed of less unpleasant ways to use his rocket science. Between 1952 and 1954 he wrote a series of articles for Colliers Magazine under the rubric Man Will Conquer Space Soon! Then came Sputnik and, in 1961, the first human being in space: Yuri Gagarin. The US military was alarmed. A month later, President Kennedy announced that the Americans would put someone on the moon by the end of the decade, and the space race was on.
It is this era that forms the narrative core of Australian space historian Colin Burgesss book, with each and every Nasa mission in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programmes described in detail loving enough to thrill space nerds of all ages. But he also pays due homage to the remarkable achievements of the Soviets, who for much of the space races duration were still winning it, until suddenly they werent. This he attributes to the untimely death in 1966 of the Russian genius Sergei Korolev, an engineer who had survived two years in the Gulag after one of Stalins purges, worked on rockets during the war, and rose to become chief designer of the Soviet space programme.
It was Korolev who, in the mid-1950s, began firing dogs into the upper reaches of the atmosphere without asking them, to check the bio-effects of very high-altitude flight. In November 1957, just a month after Sputnik 1, Korolev launched the much bigger Sputnik 2, final home of the plucky cosmodog Laika, the planets first life-form to experience spaceflight, sent up there with bio-sensors to beam back data but no plans to bring her home. Dog lovers the world over protested at the cruelty of leaving her up there to circle the planet until her air ran out. The well-connected Burgess, though, has it on the authority of two Russian sources that Laika probably expired of heat exhaustion only a few hours into the flight, which might have been a relative mercy.
While the USSR were firing the first object, first animal, and then first human into space they got the first woman into space too, Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 the Americans were racing to catch up, eventually boosting a bunch of monkeys into the high atmosphere. In 1958 Nasa was formed, and the term astronaut (Greek for star sailor) officially adopted, the first American astronaut being a squirrel monkey named Miss Baker, who completed a short ballistic flight into space in 1959.
Burgess tells the subsequent tales of crewed spaceflight on both sides of the iron curtain with great verve, and a suspenseful narration of unheralded near-disasters. Gagarins spacecraft, for instance, only just avoided burning up on re-entry, as did John Glenns Friendship 7 craft on an early Mercury mission. Theres a nail-biting story of one cosmonaut whose suit ballooned and nearly prevented him from getting back through the airlock. On the Apollo 10 mission, the lunar lander nearly crashed because its radar locked on to the actual moon instead of the command module it was meant to rendezvous with. And Apollo 11 only landed safely because crack pilot Neil Armstrong overrode the automatic systems that were trying to set down on dangerous rocks and flew to a better landing zone with seconds of fuel left.
There are, too, sober analyses of the actual disasters, including the fatal fire in the command capsule of the first Apollo mission during a test on the ground, later found to be partly due to cost-cutting by a contractor (plus a change), and the loss of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, owing to a frozen O-ring in a rocket booster. (Its silly no? / When a rocket-ship explodes / And everybody still wants to fly sang Prince a year later.)
Nasa now plans, though, to put people back on the moon by the middle of this decade, which rather prompts the question: why did moon-going stop nearly half a century ago? The answer seems to be, astonishingly in hindsight, that we just got bored of it. The sight of astronauts gleefully bouncing around in one-sixth gravity had become tiresome for many, Burgess notes, and public support for the space agencys lunar missions had plummeted.
So what has changed? Well, China landed a robot on the moon last year, and more recently announced plans to build a joint moon base with Russia. So some of Donald Trumps Space Force might want to be there jockeying for position too. But more generally space seems cool again, partly thanks to the antics of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, of Tesla and SpaceX fame, who builds rockets for Nasa and used one of them to blast a red Tesla into orbit. (In the drivers seat is a mannequin called Starman, in homage to the David Bowie song.) Blinking in Musks authentic rocket exhaust are the minnows with vanity space companies, such as Bezoss Blue Origin and Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic, which is most notable for the fact that it has been promising its first tourist flights into space are just around the corner for more than a decade.
But does space exploration actually matter as something more than a dick-waving contest for plutocrats? Space exploration is a human imperative, Burgess writes, and travelling further afield in space is our undeniable destiny, but he might have offered a more full-throated defence of it. Some argue that space exploration is a waste of money while we still have problems to fix on our own planet, but that has never been an either/or proposition, just as it was not a binary choice for the UK between staying in the EU or spending more money on the NHS. The pure-science justification alone is strong, taking into account the cosmological discoveries that flowed from the Hubble telescope, and will do so from its successor, the James Webb space telescope, to be launched later this year.
But possibly the best reason is that, even if we decide to act as better stewards of the Earth, it could be rendered uninhabitable through no fault of our own. Perhaps a large asteroid strike, or a gamma-ray burst from a nearby star collapsing into a black hole, which would destroy the atmosphere. In that case, it might be nice to have a spare planet, and we might feel grateful to the pioneering space-sailors who helped make evacuation a possibility.
The Greatest Adventure: A History of Human Space Exploration is published by Reaktion. To support the Guardian and the Observer buy a copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
View post:
The Greatest Adventure by Colin Burgess review a history of human space exploration - The Guardian
- Space exploration - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: June 10th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 10th, 2016]
- space exploration | Britannica.com [Last Updated On: June 16th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 16th, 2016]
- Space Exploration News - Space News, Space Exploration ... [Last Updated On: June 16th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 16th, 2016]
- Boy & Girl Scout Space Exploration Merit Badge [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2016]
- Articles about Space Exploration - latimes [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2016]
- ESA - Space for Kids - Life in Space - Space Exploration [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2016]
- Space exploration New World Encyclopedia [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2016]
- Space exploration - Wikipedia for Schools [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2016]
- Space Exploration - National Archives and Records ... [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2016]
- A Brief History of Space Exploration | The Aerospace ... [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2016]
- Space Exploration: Crazy Far - Pictures, More From ... [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2016]
- Space Exploration - Scientific American [Last Updated On: July 31st, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 31st, 2016]
- Cyprus Space Exploration Organisation (CSEO) [Last Updated On: November 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 21st, 2016]
- European Space Agency - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: November 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 21st, 2016]
- Space Exploration - U.S. Scouting Service Project [Last Updated On: November 25th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 25th, 2016]
- Space exploration - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2016]
- 50 Years of Presidential Visions for Space Exploration [Last Updated On: January 29th, 2017] [Originally Added On: January 29th, 2017]
- Big Oil's Shortsighted Super Bowl Ad Gets Rocket Fuel Wrong - Inverse [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Obama gutted NASA. Here are 3 ways Trump can make space exploration great again - Conservative Review [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- New 'Life' Trailer Brings Terrifying Thrills from Mars (Exclusive) - Space.com [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- What Everyone Gets Wrong about Black History in the Space Age - Scientific American (blog) [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Space Exploration: Astronauts' Brains Are Changed By Spaceflight, MRI-Based Study Reveals - International Business Times [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Dassault Systemes Plans Space Exploration - I4U News [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Cassini Captures Stunning View of Enceladus | Space Exploration ... - Sci-News.com [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Dassault Systemes sets eyes on space exploration, faster transport - Economic Times [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- TeamIndus launches Moonshot Wheels to inspire Indian rural ... - International Business Times, India Edition [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- NASA Official Highlights Risk of Manned-Spacecraft Efforts - Wall Street Journal [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Cabinet briefed on India-Vietnam Framework Agreement on outer space exploration - Daily News & Analysis [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Belarus invites Iran to cooperate in pharmaceutical industry, space exploration - Belarus News (BelTA) [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- New NASA Leadership Inherits Rejuvenated Space Exploration Program - eNews Park Forest [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- What Will Space Exploration Look Like Under Trump? - Law Street Media (blog) [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Outgoing NASA Team Leaves Its Successors With Robust Options for Space Exploration - Center For American Progress [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- Space exploration brought to life for pupils - Norfolk Eastern Daily Press [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- Trump's Vision of Space Exploration - The New American [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- Mechs and greater space exploration are on the way in Starbound's ... - PCGamesN [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2017]
- Nuclear Reactors to Power Space Exploration - R & D Magazine [Last Updated On: February 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 14th, 2017]
- NASA spends $2mn on 'advanced life support tech' for deep space travel - RT [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Celebrating Space Exploration - Science NetLinks [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Congress is told, again, that NASA's exploration plans aren't sustainable - Ars Technica [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- Space Exploration: Could A Habitable Planet Feature A Habitable Moon? - Forbes [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- Republicans Aim to Prioritize NASA Space Exploration Efforts Over Environmental Research - Independent Journal Review [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- Turkmenistan Aims High as It Pledges Space Exploration - EurasiaNet [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- One huge step: Trump's plans to privatize 'low Earth orbit' and send NASA into deep space - Yahoo News [Last Updated On: February 19th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 19th, 2017]
- How reusable rockets are paving the way for the next phase of space exploration - Mirror.co.uk [Last Updated On: February 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 20th, 2017]
- Space Startups Are Booming | Fortune.com - Fortune [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2017]
- Mass Effect: Andromeda is About Building Meaningful Relationships and Space Exploration - SegmentNext [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2017]
- Sen. Nelson Talks Space Exploration At Florida A&M University - WFSU [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2017]
- Space exploration programs must continue - The Eagle [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2017]
- NASA selects new technologies for flight tests for future space exploration - Space Daily [Last Updated On: February 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 23rd, 2017]
- Nuclear reactors to power space exploration - Los Alamos Monitor [Last Updated On: February 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 23rd, 2017]
- Editorial: Exploring other planets can help us understand our own - Longmont Times-Call [Last Updated On: February 24th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 24th, 2017]
- Why Does NASA Suddenly Want Humans On New Spacecraft's First Flight? - Vocativ [Last Updated On: February 24th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 24th, 2017]
- Should Humans Leave Space Exploration To Robots? - Forbes [Last Updated On: February 24th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 24th, 2017]
- Space Exploration - WGN Radio [Last Updated On: February 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 25th, 2017]
- EDITORIAL: Jumping at space travel - Indiana Daily Student [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2017]
- NASA's focus on using humans in space exploration is myopic at best, apocalyptic at worst! - International Business Times, India Edition [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2017]
- Guest view: Aliens in Earth's neighborhood? - Irondequoit Post [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2017]
- Why the 'ultimate wearables' lie in the future of space exploration - Wareable [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- Darlington power plant helps fuel NASA's space exploration - CTV News [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Will Call For a Return of Human Space Exploration - Inverse [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- LEGO Announces 'Women of NASA' Set Celebrating Female Pioneers in Space Exploration - Babble (blog) [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- What Donald Trump Said About Space Travel During His Speech - Heavy.com [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- Trump's call for human space exploration is hugely wasteful and pointless - Los Angeles Times [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- Annexation of Crimea beats space exploration as Russians' proudest moment - StopFake.org [Last Updated On: March 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 2nd, 2017]
- What is the fascination with space exploration? - Grand Valley Lanthorn [Last Updated On: March 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 2nd, 2017]
- Teachers attend space exploration conference, bring back lessons out of this world - Arlington Times [Last Updated On: March 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 4th, 2017]
- Reader applauds space exploration pioneers - Fairfaxtimes.com [Last Updated On: March 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 4th, 2017]
- Jeff Bezos Expected to Unveil Further Plans for Private Space Exploration - Wall Street Journal (subscription) [Last Updated On: March 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 5th, 2017]
- Amazon Chief Bezos Expected to Unveil Further Private Space Exploration Plans - Fox Business [Last Updated On: March 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 6th, 2017]
- When We Explore Space, We Go Together - Slate Magazine [Last Updated On: March 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 7th, 2017]
- If India or China Beats the US to Mars, It Will Feel Like a Military Defeat - Slate Magazine [Last Updated On: March 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 7th, 2017]
- Future Tense Newsletter: Space Exploration Isn't Just About Scientific Discovery - Slate Magazine (blog) [Last Updated On: March 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 8th, 2017]
- How Barack Obama ruined NASA space exploration - The Hill (blog) [Last Updated On: March 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 8th, 2017]
- A Trinity professor will play a big role in space exploration - thejournal.ie [Last Updated On: March 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 10th, 2017]
- NASA Funds 133 Projects to Aid Deep Space Exploration - PC Magazine [Last Updated On: March 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 10th, 2017]
- Congress Passes Space Exploration Act, Targets Mars - America Now [Last Updated On: March 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 11th, 2017]
- Space Exploration: US congress approves $19.5 billion for NASA to get humans to Mars by 2033 - NTA News [Last Updated On: March 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 12th, 2017]
- Otherworlds reveals visions of the solar system captured by robot spacecraft - ABC Online [Last Updated On: March 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 17th, 2017]
- Exploring space on TV just as challenging - Arizona Daily Sun [Last Updated On: March 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 17th, 2017]
- UBCO professor shortlisted for space exploration - Salmon Arm ... - Salmon Arm Observer [Last Updated On: March 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 17th, 2017]