The Space Age is a period encompassing the activities related to the space race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events, beginning with the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, [1] and continuing to the present.
This period is characterized by changes in emphasis on particular areas of space exploration and applications. Initially, the United States and the Soviet Union invested unprecedented amounts of resources in breaking records and being first to meet milestones in crewed and uncrewed exploration. The United States established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the USSR established the Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR to meet these goals. This period of competition gave way to cooperation between those nations and emphasis on scientific research and commercial applications of space-based technology. [2] [3]
Eventually other nations became spacefaring. They formed organizations such as the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), and the China National Space Administration (CNSA). When the USSR dissolved the Russian Federation continued their program as Roscosmos. [2] [3]
In the early 2020s, some journalists have used the phrase "New Space Age" in reference to a resurgence of innovation and public interest in space exploration as well as commercial applications of low Earth orbit (LEO) and more distant destinations. New developments include the participation of billionaires in crewed space travel, including space tourism and interplanetary travel. [4] [5]
Some vehicles reached suborbital space much earlier than the launch of Sputnik. In June 1944, a German V-2 rocket became the first manmade object to enter space, albeit only briefly. [6] In March 1926 American rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard launched the world's first liquid fuel rocket, but it did not reach outer space. [7]
Since Germans undertook the sub-orbital V-2 rocket flight in secrecy, it was not initially public knowledge. Also, the German launches, as well as the subsequent sounding rocket tests performed in both the United States and the Soviet Union during the late 1940s and early 1950s, were not considered significant enough to define the start of the space age because they did not reach orbit. A rocket powerful enough to reach orbit could also be used as an intercontinental ballistic missile, that could deliver a warhead to any location on Earth. Some commentators claim this is why the orbital standard is commonly used to define when the space age began. [6]
The Space Race was the first era of the Space Age. It was a race between the United States and the Soviet Union which began with the Soviet Union's October 4, 1957, launch of Earth's first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 during the International Geophysical Year. [8] Weighing 83.6 kg (184.3 lb) and orbiting the Earth once every 98 minutes. [8] [9] The race resulted in rapid advances in rocketry, materials science, and other areas. One of the underlying motivations for the space race was military. The two nations were also in a nuclear arms race following the Second World War. Both nations made use of German missile technology and scientists from their missile program. The advantages, in aviation and rocketry, required for delivery systems were seen as necessary for national security and political superiority. [10]
The cold war era competition between the United States and Soviet Union is one of the reasons the space age happened at that time. Since then the space age continues for the generation of scientific knowledge, the innovation and creation of markets, inspiration, and agreements between the space-faring nations. [11] Other reasons for the continuation of the space age are defending Earth from hazardous objects like asteroids and comets. [12]
Much of the technology developed for space applications has been spun off and found additional uses, such as memory foam. In 1958 the United States launched its first satellite, Explorer 1. The same year President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, commonly known as NASA. [13]
Prior to the first attempted human spaceflight, various animals were flown into outer space to identify potential detrimental effects of high g-forces in takeoff and landing, microgravity, and radiation exposure at high altitudes. [14]
The Space Race reached its peak with the Apollo program that captured the imagination of much of the world's population. [15] From 1961 to 1964, NASA’s budget was increased almost 500 percent, and the lunar landing program eventually involved some 34,000 NASA employees and 375,000 employees of industrial and university contractors. The Soviet Union proceeded tentatively with its own lunar landing program which it did not publicly acknowledge, partly due to internal debate over its necessity and the untimely death (in January 1966) of Sergey Korolev, chief engineer of the Soviet space program. [13]
The landing of Apollo 11 was watched by over 500 million people around the world and is widely recognized as one of the defining moments of the 20th century. Since then, public attention has largely moved to other areas. [16]
The last major leap of in the USSR-USA Space Race was the Skylab and Salyut programs, which established the first space stations for the U.S. and USSR in Earth orbit following termination of both countries' moon programs. [17]
At the conclusion of the Apollo program, crewed flights from the United States were rare, then ended while the shuttle program was getting ready to kick into gear, and the space race had been over since the Apollo-Soyuz test project of 1975, started a period of U.S.–Soviet co-operation. The Soviet Union continued using the Soyuz spacecraft. [18]
The shuttle program restored spaceflight to the U.S. following the Skylab program, but the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 marked a significant decline in crewed Shuttle launches. Following the disaster, NASA grounded all Shuttles for safety concerns until 1988. [19] During the 1990s funding for space-related programs fell sharply as the remaining structures of the now-dissolved Soviet Union disintegrated and NASA no longer had any direct competition. [20]
Since then, participation in space launches has increasingly widened to include more governments and commercial interests. Since the 1990s, the public perception of space exploration and space-related technologies has been that such endeavors are increasingly commonplace. [21]
NASA permanently grounded all U.S. Space Shuttles in 2011. NASA has since relied on Russia and SpaceX to take American astronauts to and from the International Space Station. [21] [22]
In the early 21st century, the Ansari X Prize competition was set up to help jump-start private spaceflight. [23] The winner, Space Ship One in 2004, became the first spaceship not funded by a government agency. [24]
Several countries now have space programs; from related technology ventures to full-fledged space programs with launch facilities. [25] There are many scientific and commercial satellites in use today, with thousands of satellites in orbit, and several countries have plans to send humans into space. [26] [27] Some of the countries joining this new race are France, India, China, Israel and the United Kingdom, all of which have employed surveillance satellites. There are several other countries with less extensive space programs, including Brazil, Germany, Ukraine, and Spain. [28]
As for the United States space program, NASA is currently constructing a deep-space crew capsule named the Orion. NASA's goal with this new space capsule is to carry humans to Mars. The Orion spacecraft is due to be completed in the early 2020s. NASA is hoping that this mission will “usher in a new era of space exploration.” [28]
Another major factor affecting the current Space Age is the privatization of space flight. [29] A significant private spaceflight company is SpaceX which became the proprietor of one of world's most capable operational launch vehicle when they launched their current largest rocket, the Falcon Heavy in 2018. Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, has put forward the goal of establishing a colony of one million people on Mars by 2050 and the company is developing its Starship launch vehicle to facilitate this. Since the Demo-2 mission for NASA in 2020 in which SpaceX launched astronauts for the first time to the International Space Station, the company has maintained an orbital human spaceflight capability. Blue Origin, a private company founded by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, is developing rockets for use in space tourism, commercial satellite launches, and eventual missions to the Moon and beyond. [30] Richard Branson's company Virgin Galactic is concentrating on launch vehicles for space tourism. [31] A spinoff company, Virgin Orbit, air-launches small satellites with their LauncherOne rocket. Another small-satellite launcher, Rocket Lab, has developed the Electron rocket and the Photon satellite bus for sending spacecraft further into the Solar System.[ citation needed ]
Elon Musk has the stated that the main reason he founded SpaceX is to make humanity a multiplanetary species, and cites reasons for doing it including: To ensure the long-term continuation of our species and protecting the "light of consciousness". [32] [33] He also said,
You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great - and that’s what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars. [34]
The Space Age marked a major comeback and return with the launch of NASA's Space Launch system during the Artemis 1 mission on November 16, 2022; it marked the first time a human rated spacecraft had been to the Moon in nearly 50 years, as well as the return of United States capability to get astronauts to the Moon with the Space Launch System and Orion. [35]
History of technology |
---|
Date | First | Project | Participant | Country |
---|---|---|---|---|
June 20, 1944 | Artificial object in outer space, i.e. beyond the Kármán line | V-2 rocket MW 18014 test flight [36] | – N/A | Germany |
October 24, 1946 | Pictures from space (105 km) [37] [38] [39] | U.S.-launched V-2 rocket from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. | – N/A | United States |
February 20, 1947 | Animals in space | U.S.-launched V-2 rocket on 20 February 1947 from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. [40] [41] [42] | - fruit flies | United States |
October 4, 1957 | Artificial satellite | Sputnik 1 [43] | – N/A | Soviet Union |
November 3, 1957 [44] | Animal in orbit | Sputnik 2 [45] | Laika the dog | Soviet Union |
January 2, 1959 | Lunar flyby, spacecraft to achieve a heliocentric orbit | Luna 1 [46] | – N/A | Soviet Union |
September 12, 1959 | Impact on the Lunar surface; thereby becoming the first human object to reach another celestial body | Luna 2 [47] | – N/A | Soviet Union |
October 7, 1959 | Pictures of the far side of the Moon, first spacecraft to use Gravity assist | Luna 3 [48] [49] | – N/A | Soviet Union |
January 31, 1961 | Hominidae in space | Mercury-Redstone 2 [50] | Ham (chimpanzee) | United States |
April 12, 1961 | Human in space | Vostok 1 [51] [52] | Yuri Gagarin | Soviet Union |
May 5, 1961 | Manual orientation of crewed spacecraft. | Freedom 7 (Mercury-Redstone 3) [53] | Alan Shepard | United States |
December 14, 1962 | Successful flyby of another planet (Venus closest approach 34,773 kilometers) | Mariner 2 [54] | – N/A | United States |
March 18, 1965 | Spacewalk | Voskhod 2 [55] [56] | Alexei Leonov | Soviet Union |
December 15, 1965 | Space rendezvous | Gemini 6A [57] and Gemini 7 [57] | Schirra, Stafford, Borman, Lovell | United States |
February 3, 1966 | Soft landing on the Moon by a spacecraft | Luna 9 [58] [59] | – N/A | Soviet Union |
March 1, 1966 | Human-made object to impact another planet | Venera 3 [60] [61] | – N/A | Soviet Union |
March 16, 1966 | Orbital docking between two spacecraft | Gemini 8 [62] & Agena Target Vehicle [63] | Neil Armstrong, David Scott | United States |
April 3, 1966 | Artificial satellite of another celestial body (other than the Sun) | Luna 10 [64] | – N/A | Soviet Union |
October 18, 1967 | Telemetry from the atmosphere of another planet | Venera 4 [65] | – N/A | Soviet Union |
December 21–27, 1968 | Humans to orbit the Moon | Apollo 8 | Borman, Lovell, Anders | United States |
July 20, 1969 | Humans land and walk on the Moon | Apollo 11 [66] | Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin | United States |
December 15, 1970 | Telemetry from the surface of another planet | Venera 7 [67] | – N/A | Soviet Union |
April 19, 1971 | Operational space station | Salyut 1 [68] [69] | – N/A | Soviet Union |
June 7, 1971 | Resident crew | Soyuz 11 ( Salyut 1 ) | Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, Viktor Patsayev | Soviet Union |
July 20, 1976 | Pictures from the surface of Mars | Viking 1 [70] | – N/A | United States |
April 12, 1981 | Reusable orbital spaceship | STS-1 [71] | Young, Crippen | United States |
February 19, 1986 | Long-duration space station | Mir [72] | – N/A | Soviet Union |
February 14, 1990 | Photograph of the whole Solar System [73] | Voyager 1 [74] | – N/A | United States |
November 20, 1998 | Current space station | International Space Station [75] | – N/A | Russia |
August 25, 2012 | Interstellar space probe | Voyager 1 [76] | – N/A | United States |
November 12, 2014 | Artificial probe to soft-land on a comet (67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko) [77] | Rosetta [78] | – N/A | European Space Agency |
July 14, 2015 | Space probes to explore all major planets recognized in 1981 [79] | New Horizons [80] | – N/A | United States |
December 20, 2015 | Vertical landing of an orbital rocket booster on a ground pad. [81] | Falcon 9 flight 20 [82] | – N/A | United States |
April 8, 2016 | Vertical landing of an orbital rocket booster on a floating platform at sea. [83] | SpaceX CRS-8 [84] | – N/A | United States |
March 30, 2017 | Relaunch and second landing of a used orbital rocket booster. [85] | SES-10 [86] | – N/A | United States |
January 3, 2019 | Soft landing on the lunar far side | Chang'e 4 [87] [88] | – N/A | China |
May 30, 2020 | Human orbital spaceflight launched by a private company | Crew Dragon Demo-2/Crew Demo-2/SpaceX Demo-2/Dragon Crew Demo-2 [89] | Bob Behnken, Doug Hurley | United States |
April 19, 2021 | First powered controlled extraterrestrial flight by an aircraft | Ingenuity as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission | – N/A | United States |
July 11, 2021 | Commercial space tourism flight | Virgin Galactic Unity 22 [90] | David Mackay, Michael Masucci, Sirisha Bandla, Colin Bennet, Beth Moses, Richard Branson | United States |
October 5, 2021 | Feature-length fiction film shot in space ( The Challenge ) | Soyuz MS-19 [91] | Anton Shkaplerov, Klim Shipenko, Yulia Peresild | Russia |
November 16, 2022 | Artemis 1 launch restoring American capability to get humans to the Moon | Artemis 1 [92] | - N/A | United States |
The Space Age is considered to have influenced:
The Space Age also inspired musical genres:[ citation needed ]
Human spaceflight is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be remotely operated from ground stations on Earth, or autonomously, without any direct human involvement. People trained for spaceflight are called astronauts, cosmonauts (Russian), or taikonauts (Chinese); and non-professionals are referred to as spaceflight participants or spacefarers.
Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is currently carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration is conducted both by uncrewed robotic space probes and human spaceflight. Space exploration, like its classical form astronomy, is one of the main sources for space science.
A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed to fly in outer space and operate there. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, and transportation of humans and cargo. All spacecraft except single-stage-to-orbit vehicles cannot get into space on their own, and require a launch vehicle.
The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its official name, Space Transportation System (STS), was taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft of which it was the only item funded for development. It flew 135 missions and carried 355 astronauts from 16 countries, many on multiple trips.
This article gives a concise timeline of rocket and missile technology.
Spaceflight is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in orbit around Earth, but also includes space probes for flights beyond Earth orbit. Such spaceflight operate either by telerobotic or autonomous control. The more complex human spaceflight has been pursued soon after the first orbital satellites and has reached the Moon and permanent human presence in space around Earth, particularly with the use of space stations. Human spaceflight programs include the Soyuz, Shenzhou, the past Apollo Moon landing and the Space Shuttle programs. Other current spaceflight are conducted to the International Space Station and to China's Tiangong Space Station.
The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the two nations following World War II and had its peak with the more particular Moon Race to land on the Moon between the US moonshot and Soviet moonshot programs. The technological advantage demonstrated by spaceflight achievement was seen as necessary for national security and became part of the symbolism and ideology of the time. The Space Race brought pioneering launches of artificial satellites, robotic space probes to the Moon, Venus, and Mars, and human spaceflight in low Earth orbit and ultimately to the Moon.
Human spaceflight programs have been conducted, started, or planned by multiple countries and companies. Until the 21st century, human spaceflight programs were sponsored exclusively by governments, through either the military or civilian space agencies. With the launch of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of human spaceflight programs – commercial human spaceflight – arrived. By the end of 2022, three countries and one private company (SpaceX) had successfully launched humans to Earth orbit, and two private companies had launched humans on a suborbital trajectory.
The Constellation program was a crewed spaceflight program developed by NASA, the space agency of the United States, from 2005 to 2009. The major goals of the program were "completion of the International Space Station" and a "return to the Moon no later than 2020" with a crewed flight to the planet Mars as the ultimate goal. The program's logo reflected the three stages of the program: the Earth (ISS), the Moon, and finally Mars—while the Mars goal also found expression in the name given to the program's booster rockets: Ares. The technological aims of the program included the regaining of significant astronaut experience beyond low Earth orbit and the development of technologies necessary to enable sustained human presence on other planetary bodies.
A spaceplane is a vehicle that can fly and glide like an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and maneuver like a spacecraft in outer space. To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbital spaceplanes tend to be more similar to conventional spacecraft, while sub-orbital spaceplanes tend to be more similar to fixed-wing aircraft. All spaceplanes to date have been rocket-powered for takeoff and climb, but have then landed as unpowered gliders.
The Soviet space program was the national space program of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), active from 1955 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Private spaceflight refers to spaceflight activities undertaken by non-governmental entities, such as corporations, individuals, or non-profit organizations. This contrasts with public spaceflight, which is traditionally conducted by government agencies like NASA, ESA, or JAXA.
A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage rocket, but the term is more general and also encompasses vehicles like the Space Shuttle. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, supported by a launch control center and systems such as vehicle assembly and fueling. Launch vehicles are engineered with advanced aerodynamics and technologies, which contribute to high operating costs.
The Ares V was the planned cargo launch component of the cancelled NASA Constellation program, which was to have replaced the Space Shuttle after its retirement in 2011. Ares V was also planned to carry supplies for a human presence on Mars. Ares V and the smaller Ares I were named after Ares, the Greek god of war.
Spaceflight began in the 20th century following theoretical and practical breakthroughs by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert H. Goddard, and Hermann Oberth, each of whom published works proposing rockets as the means for spaceflight. The first successful large-scale rocket programs were initiated in Nazi Germany by Wernher von Braun. The Soviet Union took the lead in the post-war Space Race, launching the first satellite, the first animal, the first human and the first woman into orbit. The United States would then land the first men on the Moon in 1969. Through the late 20th century, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, and China were also working on projects to reach space.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to space exploration.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. Established in 1958, it succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give the U.S. space development effort a distinctly civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. It has since led most American space exploration, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the 1968–1972 Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle. It currently supports the International Space Station and oversees the development of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System for the crewed lunar Artemis program, the Commercial Crew spacecraft, and the planned Lunar Gateway space station.
The German space programme is the set of projects funded by the government of Germany for the exploration and use of outer space. The space programme is run by the German Aerospace Center, who conduct research, plan, and implement the programme on behalf of the German federal government.
On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union opened the Space Age...
In the earlier days of space exploration, nobody knew if people could survive a trip away from Earth, so using animals was the best way to find out. In 1948, a rhesus macaque monkey named Albert flew inside a V2 rocket. In 1957, Russians sent a dog named Laika into orbit. Both of these flights showed that humans could survive weightlessness and the effects of high gravitational forces.
{{cite book}}
: |work=
ignored (help){{cite book}}
: |journal=
ignored (help)To space and back, in less than nine minutes? Hello, future.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)His designs were very modern and architectural, much like those of Courreges and Cardin.