Let us start from the beginning of this well known “Space Race”. This so called, analogy to arms race, was an informal competition between United States and Soviet Union to see who could outrun each other in advancements in space first. This race was set to explore outer space with artificial satellites and manned lunar missions. The leader in this race was Soviet Union launching Sputnik-I in 1957. Space technology became a major part in this conflict as it involved both potential military applications and the morale-boosting social benefits. During Cold War both nations gained great pride and superior technology and this competition forced Americans to show some superiority by planning to send “man to moon” and back to earth. This was achieved in 1969 under presidential term of J. F. Kennedy.
This was called Apollo 11, the fifth manned mission in the Apollo series to explore space, and became the first manned mission to set its foot on the Moon. After this mission, that had a big role in causing a chain reaction in spreading the presence of human kind throughout universe, there were several missions exploring space by different countries. But the end of lunar missions came in December 7, 1972, with the launch of Apollo 17 which involved three astronauts.
This mission used Lunar Rovers and surface excursions and many spacewalks. They returned from moon on December 19, 1972 through splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. This was the last mission to moon and Eugene Cernan is, to date, the last man ever to have walked on the Moon. While those involved in those space missions look back on their achievements that are embedded in both time and history, others are looking at the future for space exploration.
There were several different missions to other planets in the years following this lunar mission but man never returned to moon. The question that still arises is why? The answer as told by NASA and other space research organizations is that the expenditure on such missions was too high to afford, the space shuttle requires high maintenance and manned missions needed careful safety measures to keep the astronauts in space and the moon for a long time. Building on the best of Apollo and space shuttle technology, NASA’s 21st century space exploring system will be durable, affordable, versatile and safe but take some time to make.
This payload in the picture is the latest marvel of NASA which with the space shuttle can carry up to 6 crew members or astronauts into space or moon. NASA is also working very hard to make the new spacecraft operational by 2011, decreasing any gap in human space flight. The proposal called for the CEV [crew exploration vehicle] is to be ready by 2014, which will reflect the vision of returning to moon. There are other space research organizations of different countries trying to achieve the same and started on their specific lunar projects by end of 20th century for e.g. China is planning to send manned shuttle to moon by 2020. United States space research organization NASA is also currently designing ORION spacecraft which can carry 4-6 astronauts, launched by the ARES I, the launch vehicle. Both these space exploring components plan to send humans to moon again by end of year 2020. This project has been awarded to Lockheed Martin [LM] to develop, design, build and test the module. The first crewed Orion flight is to be tested in 2015.
The Red Planet has interested mankind when Mars was seen as a small dot in the sky in the earlier days. Humans chose to explore Mars as it was the planet which was closest to Earth. The primary reason why the planet was named as Mars was because it appeared as a small red dot in the sky and hence named after the Roman God of War. Mars has solid ground which most of the other planets don’t have. Mars has a magnetic field which is useful in deflecting gamma rays from the sun and prevents them from reaching the planet. Mars has frozen water in the form of glaciers. All these reasons made man to explore Mars as most of the characteristics resemble the earth.
As of now, three space agencies are competing hard to be the first to Mars. In early 1960’s to 1970’s NASA sent several spacecraft to get pictures of Mars. All of these spacecrafts were of unmanned type. So far 36 unmanned spacecrafts had been sent by various space agencies. They considered sending unmanned spacecrafts as their first step of success. But the sad thing is that most of the unmanned spacecrafts never returned back to earth although they sent back the pictures of Mars. The European Space Agency has planned a mission named “2011 – 2014 Mars Sample Return Mission”. It mainly focuses on taking a sample (1/2 kg) of Martian rocks and return back to earth so that geologists could analyze on the rocks. They consider it as their second step towards Mission to Mars. Also plans for collecting Martian air, dust and frozen liquid is under progress.
Russia is trying to compete with America in the space race by planning to launch a manned spacecraft to Mars though they have failed several times in the earlier missions. Various research studies revealed that 2018 will be the best year to explore Mars considering the solar activity and planetary orbits. Russia has decided to launch a spaceship which will carry people to Mars on May 8, 2018. But NASA and the European Space Agency treat it as a big risk to send people to Mars because they feel that they still have more time to explore before they send people in spaceship. The technology in 2018 will give you the answer for the question of whether Russia will be able to make it to Mars with a manned spaceship. To study the effects of gamma rays on human, NASA and the European Space Agency have begun conducting experiments on moon to study the effects.
Cost factor adds difficulty to the mission because building a manned spaceship weighing 600 tons makes it to be built in space as propelling such a large spaceship is not possible with our current rocket power. NASA estimates that their Mars mission program will cost 388 billion dollars. Although several arguments prevail on the necessity to explore Mars, scientists believe that it would save mankind in case a major catastrophic event destroys the earth.
There had been also plans for cost cutting and make it slimmer through a mission named “The Mars Direct Plan”. They propose new ideas to make the spaceship smaller by cutting down the supplies and limiting the number of things to be taken. Medical experts believe that a manned mission to Mars should not be conducted unless we study about the effects of cosmic rays on human as cosmic rays are prevalent in the outer space.
Even though reaching Mars in the near future, with current technology, would be dangerous and expensive, it would a possibility. NASA and other space agencies are not sure of taking a risk and sending people to Mars. However, the answer to the question of when will man land on mars lies entirely on the technological growth and the cost of the mission. If a technology enables manned mission to mars at an affordable cost with safety, then that will be the day of man’s footprint on Mars.
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