Human Space History

For thousands of years, mankind has thought about the outer space. It has become an obsession for mankind to understand the cosmos and to explore the far reaches of space. Although we have come a far way; the space history of humankind has not been an easy one. It has been filled with worthy accomplishments as well as tragedies, but it has been a worthwhile quest.

If Jules Verne was the first person to suggest space flights in his 19th century fiction books like Travel to the Moon and the War of the Worlds; then Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was definitely the first scientist to give out the idea of space travel in the beginning of the 20th century. However, with the start of the World War II, definitely Germans had the upper hand, as they started to work on the V2 Missile program. It is without doubt that the German V2 missiles were the father of both the modern space flight and also of the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Program. In fact, One V2 rocket reached a very high altitude, and that V2 flight can be considered the first space flight. In fact, the basic design and the working concepts of the V2 rocket have been used even up to today in any modern satellite launch. Even the powerful Titan Rockets that were used to launch lunar space craft are direct descendants of the V2 rocket. Thus no one can dispute the advantage that V2 rockets have contributed to the space program.

With the launching of the Sputnik-I in October of 1957 by the Russian Space Agency, a new era has definitely started. It signaled the beginning of the Space Age as the first artificial satellite was launched into space. It was the first time in the history of mankind, where an artificial object was put into the outer orbit of our world. Of course, shortly thereafter, the first living thing was launched into space with Sputnik II in November 1957. The first living thing to orbit Earth was a dog named Laika and unfortunately she died a few hours into the flight. However, this achievement paved the way for the first manned flight as Yuri Gagarin made the first spaceflight in 1961. This was also a monumental event in Human Space History as it was the first time that mankind was able to be in space. It was perhaps the beginning of the stepping stone to the stars.

The United States launched its counter first flight into space in 1961 with Alan Shepard. He was the first American astronaut to orbit around the Earth. This event also signaled the Americans comeback into the race as up to this point it was the Russian Space Agency that had the upper hand with the first launches in everything. The first person to take a spacewalk around the Earth was again a Russian Cosmonaut in 1965. However, also because of the effect of the Cold War, US entered an aggressive campaign to be the first in space development and quickened its pace for the moon program. After 1965, the space program was pretty much in the hands of the Americans as they were the first to put a man on the Moon in 1969. In July 20, 1969 the first person to land on the moon was Neil Armstrong. Up to date only Americans have ever set foot on the surface of the moon and it is one of the biggest accomplishments of the mankind.

Probably the last and the only major development in human space history came with the launching of the first Space Shuttle in April 12, 1981. It was a major stepping stone as it was the first reusable spacecraft in the history of mankind. Since that day many Shuttle missions have been launched and it is hoped that in time more significant developments like the first manned mission to Mars can occur in our lifetimes.