Space Flight Essay Research Paper Space Flight free essay sample

Space Flight Essay, Research Paper Space Flight On May 25, 1961, John F. Kennedy delivered one of the most memorable State of the Union addresses in the history of the United States. ? I believe that this state should perpetrate itself to accomplishing the end, before this decennary is out, of set downing a adult male on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth? ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.cs.umb.edu/jfklibrary, President John F. Kennedy # 8217 ; s Particular Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs ) . With those words, Kennedy launched a new epoch of infinite geographic expedition in the United States. Although the National Aeronautics And Space Administration was created in 1958 by the National Aeronautics and Space Act ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.hq.nasa.gov, Key Documents ) , and the Russians already launched the first orbiter into infinite in 1957, the US was still at a base still on the topic. What the state needed was a wake-up call, and that is precisely what it got from one of the most fa med talkers in its history. We will write a custom essay sample on Space Flight Essay Research Paper Space Flight or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The new epoch promised much, but expected small. From USA? s battle to be the dominant universe power in the Cold War Era, to the careless depletion of natural resources in the Information Age, infinite geographic expedition and spacemans were and will be the existent keys to the new millenary and beyond. Before looking into the hereafter, or even measuring the present, one must look in item at the history of the infinite undertaking. The missions that gave scientists and engineers the necessary informations and experience to do new, safer, more dependable and intricate equipment were launched long before there was realistic talk of directing investigations to Mars. The spacemans that helped determine the preparation plans, took the whippings of crude flight trials, and died in order to function their state were born before World War II. And even the Russian Space Program was important to what the infinite plan is today. It fueled competition, and provided more resources for American applied scientists. Until Apollo 11, they were in front of the Americans in about everyway, with their launch of Sputnik, a remote-controlled orbiter in 1957, and their countless number ones in revolving and infinite walks. Yuri Gagarin was the first adult male in infinite. Although most of the missions that have been launched have been of import in their ain ways, some missions merely stand out, whether it was the first measure on the Moon, or the first mission to Mars. NASA? s foremost high profile plan was Project Mercury, an attempt to larn if worlds could last in infinite. It was the preliminary to the ulterior missions, and it gave NASA the necessary informations to construct better, and more comfy ships for worlds to remain in infinite for extended periods of clip. The first launch of the Mercury plan was the LJ-1 on August 21, 1959. At 35 proceedingss before launch, emptying of the country had been continuing on agenda. Suddenly, half an hr before launch-time, an explosive flash occurred. When the fume cleared it was apparent that merely the capsule-and-tower combination had been launched, on a flight similar to an off-the-pad abort ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.ksc.nasa.gov, Mercury: LJ-1 ) . The first mildly successful ballistic capsule launch occurred September 9, 1959. Although the BJ-1 ship experienced some jobs, and the timing on some of the separation processs was away, the capsule made it back to earth some seven hours after lift-off. The capsule orbited the Earth for about 13 proceedingss ( Mercury: BJ-1 ) . Mercury mission MA-5 was the first to transport unrecorded beings into sub-orbit. Although Enos # 8211 ; a Pan troglodytes, was non a perfect replacement for a human, he served as a good trial for the environmental controls of the capsule. He orbited the Earth in entire lightness for over three hours and upon landing was in perfect physical status ( Mercury: MA-5 ) . On May 5, 1961, Freedom 7 was the first launch to transport worl ds into infinite. Alan B. Shepard, Jr. was the lone crewmember, and the successful mission lasted for over 15 proceedingss ( Mercury: MR-3 ) . More manned flights from the Mercury series followed, highlighted by the Friendship 7, where on February 20, 1962, John Glenn was the first American in existent orbit, and he orbited the Earth three times for a small under five hours ( Mercury: MA-6 ) . The last mission from the Mercury undertaking came on May 15, 1963, where L. Gordon Cooper was in orbit in the Faith 7 for over a twenty-four hours. Entire weightless clip was over 34 hours, and the mission was celebrated and deemed more than successful ( Mercury: MA-9 ) . Gemini missions followed which built on the success of the Mercury flights, and fundamentally followed the same lineations, except with a crew of two spacemans. The most monumental plan in the history of the US came following, following the late President Kennedy? s mission of set downing a individual on the Moon. The Apollo undertaking featured many mileposts, and besides some reverses. The Apollo 1 mission was a immense failure as spacemans Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee lost their lives when a fire swept through the Command Module ( Apollo 1 ) . After a few more trial flights, Apollo 8, launched on December 21, 1968, was the first manned lunar orbital mission, remaining in the Moon? s orbit for 20 hours, doing 10 circles ( Zimmerman, 6 ) . While the flights before were all of import, the most famed and documented mission in the history of the US was the Apollo 11, where Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. were the first to set down on the Moon. The mission launched without any holds on July 16, 1969, and even the crewmembers could hardly hold on the magnitude of their mission. Before the flight, while the spacemans were being strapped in, Michael Collins had this to state, ? Here I am, a white male, age 38, height 5 pess 11 inches, weight 165 lbs, salary $ 1 7,000 per annum, occupant of a Texas suburb, with black topographic point on my roses, province of head unsettled, about to be shot away to the Moon. Yes, to the Moon? ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.ksc.nasa.gov, Apollo 13 ) . The flight went absolutely and on July 20 at 04:17 p.m. EDT, ? The bird of Jove has landed. ? The first measure on Moon was at precisely 10:56:15 p.m. EDT, and Aldrin described the experience better than anyone else could, ? We opened the hatch and Neil, with me as his sailing master, began endorsing out of the bantam gap. It seemed like a little infinity before I heard Neil say, # 8220 ; That # 8217 ; s one little measure for adult male. . . one giant spring for mankind. # 8221 ; In less than 15 proceedingss I was endorsing awkwardly out of the hatch and onto the surface to fall in Neil, who, in the tradition of all tourers, had his camera ready to snap my reaching? ( Apollo 13 ) . There were jubilations all around the universe, particularly in the U S when Neil Armstrong topographic point the US flag into the bouldery lunar dirt, and straightened out the folds. At this clip, the two spacemans on the surface received likely the biggest phone call of their life, from the president. ? Neil and Buzz, I am speaking to you by telephone from the Oval Office at the White House, and this surely has to be the most historic telephone call of all time made. . . Because of what you have done, the celestial spheres have become a portion of adult male # 8217 ; s universe. As you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquility, it inspires us to redouble our attempts to convey peace and repose to Earth # 8230 ; # 8221 ; ( Bean, 47 ) . On July 24, 1969, the spacemans splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, and within proceedingss, they were on the USS Hornet ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.ksc.nasa.gov, Apollo 13 ) . More missions would follow, peculiarly the Apollo 13 mission, which was about a complete catastrophe. Another mission to put worlds on the Moon, was aborted after legion failures? 200,000 stat mis from Earth. The spacemans did return in a Life Module. The last of the Apollo missions was the Apollo? Soyuz undertaking that brought along the peace procedure started earlier by Nixon. The Viking undertaking was the beginning of the Mars geographic expedition, with the first two Viking Lander and orbiter missions in 1976 ( Vogt, 60 ) . The atmospheric conditions taken from those missions serve as background information for today? s programs to direct worlds to Mars. The Voyager missions in 1979 were set to research Saturn in item, and Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune as flyover ( Vogt, 22 ) . Although these missions served to roll up a batch of informations for f uture research and went to farther planets, they were non every bit large as the manned flights to the Moon, peculiarly because infinite geographic expedition was so new, and because the missions to the Moon had a loyal feel to them. But history of spacemans would non be complete with out more elaborate information about some of the more celebrated spacemans. John Glenn, the first American in orbit on the Friendship 7 flight, was a pilot of over 90 missions in the Korean War ( Kramer, 18 ) . Chosen for his experience every bit good as his courage in the war, he rose to the rank of Colonel in the US Marine Corps before traveling into NASA. He trained on rough machinery, before NASA came up with a set preparation plan ( 20 ) . He was 42 when he flew for the first clip in his orbital mission ( 34 ) , and he subsequently became a Senator ( 39 ) . Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, both flew in the Apollo 11, and were the first two people to walk on the Moon. They will ever be remembered fo r their historic effort. Both Armstrong and Aldrin were 39 when they flew the Apollo mission. Armstrong was the first civilian in infinite, and in his first flight, he was the commanding officer of the Apollo 11 mission. ? Buzz? Aldrin was a Colonel in the US Air Force, and he was besides chosen for his winging experience. Because Americans have lost involvement in the infinite plan without competition, there has non been another harvest of spacemans every bit celebrated as those since the yearss of the Apollo mission. History of infinite flight has been really rich with achievements and mileposts, but it appears that the universe has reached a little constriction for engineering in the country of infinite geographic expedition. In add-on, the deficiency of competition from any other state has slowed down the gait of invention. With the Russian Space Program in shambles, every bit good as the whole state of Russia, the former USSR has non produced much utile engineering recently. Wi th a immense infinite station in the devising, Russia is the lone state that has non made the necessary parts for its completion, due to dearly-won care of their old infinite station, Mir, on which Russia and America have worked together on carry oning experiments in the old ages after the USSR? s break-up. With Mir? s retirement, Russia now has the clip and the resources to finish their portion of the International Space Station which will speed up infinite geographic expedition. America has a few of its ain undertakings traveling on right now, like the Galileo, the Pathfinder, and the Mars Polar Lander. Galileo is one of the investigations out right now, scheduled to analyze the environmental conditions of Venus and Jupiter ( hypertext transfer protocol: //galileo.jpl.nasa.gov, Galileo ) . The Mars Pathfinder, launched 2 old ages ago, has late made some of import finds about the H2O content on Mars, and the clime history of the? ruddy? planet. Endless information has been sent bac k to Earth about Mars? ice caps, and stone formations, which have concluded that there was standing H2O on Mars, including oceans and seas ( hypertext transfer protocol: //polarlander.jpl.nasa.gov/ , Pathfinder ) . Although the Pathfinder has set the Mars geographic expedition mission on the right path, the recent failures with the Mars Polar Lander mission have set back the plan. The communicating with the new Lander could non be established and the ship is presumed lost. Critics say that the? faster, cheaper, better? attack taken with the Lander has really cost the authorities more than $ 36 million, and the valuable clip of edifice and acquiring a new Lander in place ( Associated Press, 1A ) . Although the present motion of the infinite plan appears to hold stalled, possibly the hereafter holds the replies. What is in the hereafter of the infinite plan? Finally, people will settle on the planets near to Earth, if non because of geographic expedition, but because of a deficiency o f natural resources, which is catching up with world. Prototypes of human home grounds on Red planets are being made, and NASA hopes to hold worlds on Red planets by 2050. The International Space Station should be good on its manner to being built, and should be working in the following five to ten old ages ( hypertext transfer protocol: //polarlander.jpl.nasa.gov, Future ) . New cheaper orbiters and adventurers are besides coming in the close hereafter. The new adventurers with plasma propulsion are already in design, and are traveling to be no more than one million per unit greatly cut downing today? s monetary value. They are besides traveling to hold a virtually unlimited fuel capacity, because of the particular engine design utilizing metal for fuel. This adventurer will be so low-cost that they could be sent out in many waies to research infinite star systems, and still be cheap plenty to lose ( Chaikin, 60 ) . Plans that are being talked about right now may be a small far fet ched sometimes, but even if some of them will happen, the hereafter looking bright so. Forty-eight old ages ago, John F. Kennedy set a expansive program in gesture. His State of the Union reference pushed the United States to its bounds. Better developing methods, and many schools for future spacemans have made a large difference in the degree of the preparation, ability and intelligence of the future crews of American starships. Now, even with involvement dwindling, and jobs stacking up, Americans have to seek their best to gaze in the face of hardship, and expression at the large image? the endless? resort area? known as outer infinite. Bibliography Bibliography Associated Press. ? NASA ends any hopes for Mars spacecraft. ? The Baltimore Sun 8 Dec. 1999, concluding ed. , sec. A: 1, 6. Chaikin, Alan. Apollo. Shelton: The Greenwich Workshop, 1998. Chaikin, Andrew. ? The Great Debate. ? Popular Science July 1998: 60? 65. Kramer, Barbara. John Glenn: A Space Biography. Capital of illinois: Enslow Publishers, Inc. , 1998. Vogt, Gregory. Viking and the Mars. Brookfield: The Millbrook Press, 1991. Vogt, Gregory. Voyager. Brookfield: The Millbrook Press, 1991. Zimmerman, Robert. Genesis. New York: Four Walls Printing, 1998. ? Apollo 1. ? NASA. 5 Dec. 1999? Apollo 13. ? NASA. 5 Dec. 1999? Future. ? NASA. 5 Dec. 1999? Galileo. ? NASA. 5 Dec. 1999? Mercury: LJ-1. ? NASA. 5 Dec. 1999? Mercury: BJ-1. ? NASA. 5 Dec. 1999? Mercury: MA-5. ? NASA. 5 Dec. 1999? Mercury: MR-3. ? NASA. 5 Dec. 1999? Mercury: MA-6. ? NASA. 5 Dec. 1999? Mercury: MA-9. ? NASA. 5 Dec. 1999? National Aeronautics and Space Act. ? NASA. 5 Dec. 1999? Pathfinder. ? NASA. 5 D ec. 1999? President John F. Kennedy # 8217 ; s Particular Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs. ? JFK Library. 5 Dec. 1999