The most exciting adventure of allhumanity began in the middle of the 20th century, soon after the end of the main tragedy of the century - the Second World War. A revolution took place that seized the minds and souls of people from different countries, and the first conquerors of the cosmos of the 20th and 21st centuries appeared. We escaped into outer space and mastered it unswervingly and irresistibly. How did this tectonic shift in people's lives and the development of technology, what awaits us now, in the 21st century?
The exploration of space was initially conducted by twosuperpowers - the USSR and the US, the confrontation of which resulted not only in political skirmishes and arms race, but also in rivalry in science and technology. Despite the efforts and great financial resources, the United States at the dawn of the space age could not become pioneers and leaders in it. Conquerors of the cosmos of the 20-21 century, they will later catch up - create manned space shuttles, super-powerful telescopes and send rovers for exploration of the Red Planet. And we'll start by describing the first space launch.
The criterion for assigning a flight to space is the crossing of the Karman line at an altitude of 100 kilometers.
PS-1, created and launched by the Soviet Union,was able to develop the necessary speed, overcome the attraction of the Earth and was launched by a carrier rocket into orbit in October 1957. The satellite could not say a memorable, soul-stirring phrase about steps for humanity like what Neil Armstrong said. PS-1 broadcast only "Bip-Bip!", But this was enough to open a new era in the history of our civilization.
At the request to recollect pioneers of spacebefore the eyes of any person stands the smiling face of Yuri Gagarin. But still the first living organism sent to Earth's orbit was not he, but Drosophila. Conventional fruit flies were launched by the Americans in 1947 with the aim of investigating the effect of high altitude on the degree of radiation in the body.
The flies returned alive and well, and replacedthey, after only a year, flew a macaque named Albert I. Albert was less fortunate - he died of suffocation, not reaching the line of Karman, and therefore virtually not having been in space.
Then there were a few more Alberts, but stillThe first mammals, rising to a height of more than 100 km and returning from there alive, were two dogs - Desik and Gypsy. Their launch in 1951 dealt with the USSR. The dogs did not reach the orbit. There were several more attempts to conduct an orbital flight, but the first, with a successful return home, happened only in 1960. Squirrel and Arrow, and along with them four dozen mice and two rats flew around the Earth and returned alive and unharmed. Soon after the end of the flight, Strelka became the mother of six puppies, whose fate was occupied by Nikita Khrushchev. One of the puppies of a space dog, he handed over to the daughter of the president of America - Caroline Kennedy. Thus, the first conquerors of the cosmos of the 20th and 21st centuries were our smaller brothers, who need to pay tribute and memory.
Nothing will ever change the fact that the firstcosmonaut of the planet was a Soviet citizen Yuri Gagarin. Having said the phrase "Let's go!" Known to the whole world, he went into near-earth orbit on the Vostok-1 ship.
The flight did not last long - 108 minutes, but all thisThe time below people in different countries listened to the radio receivers and did not take their eyes off the TV screens. They still did not understand, they rather felt the importance of this flight for all living on the planet.
A relatively short time has passed, and alreadyagain hit the record conquerors of space 20-21 century. The flight duration of Valery Polyakov is amazing. At the Mir station, the Russian cosmonaut spent more than a year.
Having torn away from the Earth, mankind does not intend towas to stop. Fantasy writers wrote books in which people explore and colonize other planets, filmmakers conceived the first space battles and went forward the conquerors of the cosmos of the 20-21 century. Comparative table in the future will show how the development of the era of space traveled.
The dream to set foot on the surface of the heavenly body,different from the native planet, embodied in the landing of American astronauts on the moon. The man who conquered the only natural satellite of our planet was Neil Alden Armstrong. He disturbed the Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969.
Having studied the nearest celestial bodies, astrophysicschose a new goal - Mars. And now the station "Mars 2" belonging to the USSR rushed to him. With the help of an object created by the efforts of human hands and mind, first came to the surface of the Red Planet, and in 1983 the American "Pioneer 10", the first man-made object left the boundaries of our solar system.
The last known achievement in deliveryobjects created by mankind, away from the Earth, the American ship Voyager 1 left the boundaries of the solar system, then, after years, reached interstellar space.
Period | Indicators | the USSR | USA |
60th | Manned flights | 69 | 86 |
Astronauts / Astronauts | 87 | 106 | |
70th | Manned flights | 248 | 270 |
Astronauts / Astronauts | 337 | 386 | |
80th | Manned flights | 497 | 448 |
Astronauts / Astronauts | 516 | 900 | |
90th | Manned flights | 785 | 969 |
Astronauts / Astronauts | 808 | 2032 | |
2000-2009 | Manned flights | 982 | 1440 |
Astronauts / Astronauts | 991 | 2799 |
Summary table "Conquerors of the cosmos of the 20-21 century"
1961-2009 | ||
Flying | Astronauts / Astronauts | |
the USSR | 2421 | 2739 |
USA | 3151 | 6223 |
Conclusions: the backlog of the USSR in quantitative indicators of space exploration began to increase since the 1970s of the 20th century. The gap became significant in the late 20th - early 21st century.
In the 20th century there was a cosmic boom, a revolution,but the splash can not last long. The development of cosmonautics has reached a qualitatively new level and has since continued consistently and without shocks. And this is what the conquerors of the cosmos of the 20-21 century fought for. In physics, the obtained knowledge is systematized, the achievements in theory and practical studies, far beyond the Earth's envelope, are generalized.
One of the main directions is the development of more advanced manned space vehicles and ships with a nuclear module for interplanetary flights.
Again, the conquerors tear into space expansesspace of the 20-21 century. In physics and astronomy, the possibilities of colonization are explored in a planned manner when the Earth's resources are depleted or overpopulated. The space military branch is developing, while at the stage of spy satellites. Regular flights and launches of satellites raised the question of cleaning outer space above the Earth from space debris.
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