As we blaze the space trail, let’s also take care of Earth

TAKING off from last year’s 100th anniversary celebration of the first human airflight by the Wright brothers, this week saw the 45 years of the first flight into Space undertaken by a Russian, and a decade later, the first human on the moon by astronaut Neil Armstrong.

There are many other scientific firsts leading to the conquest of Space.

We could begin with Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), the Italian scientist and astronomer who brought Space closer to us by being the first person to view celestial bodies in the Milky Way.

Almost 400 years ago, in 1609, when he learned that a “spyglass” had been invented, he started his own experiments.

By using a homemade telescope of 20 times its magnification, he discovered, among other things, the four largest moons orbiting Jupiter, the rings of Saturn and the phases of Venus, sparking new thinking in astronomy.

His treatise, The Starry Messenger (1610), opened new vistas in astronomy and later Space exploration.

In 1919, a suggestion on the possibility of using rockets to reach the moon was made by Robert Goddard, a rocket engineer. Though he was ridiculed at first, his contribution was recognised after World War II.

He invented the first liquid-fuelled rocket and conducted the world’s first launch in 1926 using a mixture of petrol and liquid oxygen. The rocket only reached a height of 56 metres. In later experiments his rockets soared higher, up to two kilometres.

His published work became the foundation for later Space exploration. In all, he filed more than 200 patents related to rocketry.

Four decades after Goddard’s suggestion, on Jan 2, 1959, the then Soviet Union launched the first of a series of Luna missions into Space.

Two years earlier, the Soviet Union had come up with the Sputnik programme, launching the first satellite on Oct 4, 1957.

The Luna programme, which lasted until 1961, was to study the earth’s upper atmosphere, and at the same time monitor life in space flight and test Soviet rocket technology.

More than 20 missions were carried out, with some notable accomplishments. For example: Luna 1 was the first spacecraft to reach lunar space, beating Pioneer 4 of the US by three months, although the probe missed the moon by more than 500 kilometres.

In addition, Luna 2 managed to crash land on the moon on Sept 13, 1959 to become the first artificial object on the moon.

Luna 3, launched on Oct 4, 1959, was the first to fly past the moon by design. Equipped with cameras, it returned with the first set of pictures of the hidden far side of the moon. It is also the first spacecraft to fly completely around the moon.

Luna 10 was the first Space craft to orbit the moon on April 4, 1966.

In between, the Soviets continued to dominate space exploration by being the first to put a human into Space.

Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968), on board Vostok 1, on April 12, 1961, was the first human to orbit around the earth.

Three years later, the Soviet launched another first. The Voskhod 1 carried three persons into orbit for a day, between Oct 12 and Oct 13 in 1964. It is marked the first spacecraft to have a multiple crew.

But the Russian domination came to an abrupt end shortly later.

On July 20, 1969 US astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon. He was followed by Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, his Apollo 11 crewmate.

It was the outcome of the Apollo space programme undertaken by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa). The programme was started in May 1961, and preceding it was the manned Gemini space programme.

Between May 1961 and December 1972, as many as 17 Apollo missions were launched.

The earlier Apollo missions were just attempts to orbit the earth (Apollo 7 and 9) and the moon (Apollo 8 and 10).

Beginning with Apollo 11, two more missions to land men on the moon were successfully executed (Apollo 12 and 14).

There were also unsuccessful missions, for example, Apollo 1 was lost and Apollo 13 made an unscheduled return to earth.

It was not until 1984, on July 18, that the first woman walked in Space – Svetlana Savitskaya of the Soviet Union.

No doubt space exploration saw many impressive achievements within such a short span of time, despite the many setbacks.

Perhaps the one important lesson to be learned, apart from the science and technology that has gone into it, is that humans are capable of creating wonders once they put their hearts and minds into it, and work closely together even though they are rivals.

The lesson is even more important taking into consideration that our own planet is ailing. Thus, while we take pride in the achievements in space exploration, we need to be mindful to always keep our feet firmly on the ground.

We need to save our planet first, before reaching out for the moon. The limited resources available must be better mobilised to assist fellow humans who are in dire need just to survive – perhaps a fitting new year resolution for all of us.

To our readers, a warm welcome to year 2004 and also, the 10th year of Poison Control.