Since ancient times, people have dreamed of leaving their home planet to explore other worlds. In the latter half of the 20^th century, that dream became reality. The space age began with the launch of the first artificial satellites in 1957. An artificial satellite is any object purposely placed into orbit around the Earth, other planets, or the Sun.

Sputnik 1, launched on October 4, 1957, became the first artificial satellite to successfully orbit the Earth. It stayed in orbit for six months before falling back to Earth. On November 3, 1957 the Soviets launched Sputnik 2, which contained the first space traveler (a dog) named Laika, which survived for several days aboard Sputnik 2. They sent a dog because this was the first time a living thing was sent into space, and they didn’t want a human to get hurt or die. Due to rising temperatures within the satellite, Laika died from heat exhaustion before her air supply ran out. Then researchers sent two other dogs, Strelka and Belka. Luckily they came back safely by parachute. Next the Soviets sent a chimpanzee, Ham. Amazingly, he came back in the same condition he was before being sent to space. Since then dogs, monkeys, flies, fish, ants, frogs, mice, bees, sea urchins, and over 2,000 jellyfish have been sent to space so scientists can research them!

Explorer I, launched on January 31, 1958, was the first U.S. satellite to orbit the Earth. Its successful flight made the United States the second nation in space, four months after the Soviets launched Sputnik 1. Weather satellites began around 1960 where television images were sent to Earth. These images were helpful because it let researchers sort between healthy crops and diseased ones.

A human first went into space in 1961. Since then, people have ventured into space, even living aboard orbiting space stations for months! At the same time, robotic explorers have journeyed where humans could not go because it is too cold or too hot.

In early 1961, President Kennedy challenged the nation to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to Earth by the end of the decade. With a total cost estimated at $25 billion, the Apollo program became a massive effort. NASA realized, however, that it would not be possible to jump directly from the simple flights in Earth orbit to a Moon voyage. The agency needed a program to solve the problems of lunar flights. This became the Gemini program, a series of two-astronaut missions that took place in 1965 and 1966. The United States won the race when Neil Armstrong and his crew landed on the Moon in 1969.

Space exploration requires more than just science, it requires an enormous amount of money. During the Cold War, a period of tense relations between the United States and the USSR, both countries poured huge amounts of money into their space programs because many of the political and public opinion battles were being fought over superiority in space. After the Cold War, space exploration budgets in both countries shrank quickly.

The Apollo astronauts have said the greatest discovery from our voyages to the Moon was the view of their own world as a precious island of life. Ultimately that awareness could help to improve our lives on Earth.

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Unless otherwise noted, all images courtesy of NASA. Permission for use at http://www.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/guideline.html.

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