The urge to explore and search the unknown is part of human nature and has
led to many of the most important changes in our standard of living. Searching
and exploring enriches our spirits and reminds us of the great potential of
achievement. The drive to develop the next frontier has also been a fundamental
part of the heritage of the people of the world.
Every year, billions of dollars are spent on the exploration of space. Many
citizens doubt the necessity to research our solar system and the rest of our
universe. Spaceflight may seem us as an ultramodern idea, but evidence of the
dream of space exploration exists as far back as texts from early centruies from
the first millenium. From Thales to Copernicus including almost 14 hundred years
some of the scientists could declare that the earth was round and sun was the
center of our solar system..
Much later, in the 1600’s, Sir Isaac Newton formulated the laws of universal
gravitation and motion. Today a rocket operates under this principle. The first
American satellite, Explorer 1, was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on
January 31, 1958. Later, Yuri A. Gagarian, a Russian cosmonaut, made one full
orbit around the Earth on April 12. The United States had become furious.
Their mission was to be the first men on the moon. The Lunar Module had
landed on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong descended the ladder and said the famous
words, That’s one small step for man and one giant step for mankind. Today,
instead of competing against one another, Russia and America are working
together, planning the construction of an international space station.
We know that we have learned much about our planet from our journeys in to
space. Today everybody in the earth knows the importance of satellites for
communication. It takes seconds to be connected with anyone otherside of the
planet. Satellites at thousands of kilometers miles out in space can survey
Earth’s oceans, land use and resources, and monitor the planet’s health also
play a major role in daily local weather forecasting. These electronic eyes warn
us of dangerous storms.
Continuous global monitoring provides a vast amount of useful data and
contributes to a better understanding of Earth’s complex weather systems. Our
civilization is being threatened with overpopulation. Soon our natural resources
will be diminished to a degree where they cannot possibly support the entire
human race.
The hole in the ozone layer grows larger everyday. Expanding the human
population to the point where we live throughout the solar system would help end
the risk of extinction., possibly even due to a single event, be it nuclear war,
or the impact of a comet. As a result, over the centuries mankind has kept
advancing in the courses of technology, theories, etc., bringing us the
possibilities of actually exploring the universe. Who knows, at the rate we’ve
kept going at, mankind may soon be living on other planets in our solar system
