Space Exploration

4. From the Earth to the Moon page 6 4. 1. From the Earth to the Moon 4. 2. The Missions that Made History 5. Other Apollo Missions page 8 5. 1. Skylab 5. 2. Apollo-Soyuz 6. Revolution in space: the Space Shuttle page 9 6. 1. The Design of the Space Shuttle 6. 2. Shuttle Missions 7. The Mir Space Station page 11 Bibliography page 12 Introduction The stars have always fascinated us. This fascination was probably born when the first human directed his eyes into the nightly sky. Of course, these ancient peoples had no idea of the nature of the stars, so they made up fantastic myths about the stars.

They believed to see constellations in the stars, and even found rules how one could predict the future by looking at them. For thousands of years these believes have hardly changed. Finally, at the dawn of the modern age, thinkers, such as Copernicus and Kepler, were able to reveal more secrets about the star, but still no sane being thought that it would be possible to travel to the stars or at least to the Moon.

The first time that such a thought was discussed when Jules Verne wrote his visionary book From the Earth to the Moon.

It was not before the end of World War II, however, when people became serious about traveling to the Moon.

It was the time of the Cold War and both superpowers were struggling to prove that they possessed superior technology. At first the Soviet Union seemed to be ahead but the United States were far from admitting defeat in the space race. In the following I want to give you a more detailed picture about mankind s way into space.

Since it was difficult to access Russian sources I had to focus on the American efforts.

1. The Sputnik Shock In both Russia and the United States the space race was a military project in the beginning. In the Soviet union it was headed by Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. In the 30s he led an amateur rocketry organization. In the 40s and early 50s he was forced to work in Stalin s labor camps.

After Stalin s death he was allowed to focus on his rocket project again. On May 20, 1954, his design bureau got an order from the government to develop the first Russian intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Some plans already existed for the so-called R-7. It was supposed to be an offensive weapon against the United States that could be launched from Russian territory. Six days later he handed over a paper that was written by his friend M. Tikhonravov. It was titled Report on an Artificial Satellite of the Earth.

It stated that the R-7 missile could be used to launch satellites into space.

Yet, the R-7 remained a military project. The military officials intended it to be a weapon and were reluctant to admit missile launches with it. About a year afterwards the first Soviet Organization devoted to space flight was born. In August 1955 Korolev presented a new paper to a Soviet governmental commission. The R-7 should be used to lift a 1500kg object into space.

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