# Wikijunior:Solar System/Space exploration

## Space exploration --- A long dream

!An illustration of a spacecraft in *From the Earth to the
Moon*
Going into space was always one of the biggest dreams people had, even
thousands of years ago. Many science fiction authors wrote about
traveling in space even before the first airplane flight in 1903. One of
the most famous science fiction books on space travel is *From the Earth
to the Moon* by Jules Verne --- it was written in 1865, more than one
hundred years before the first person walked on the moon. Jules Verne\'s
idea was to use a giant cannon! That might seem silly today, but it
shows how much our ideas on space travel have changed.

## The first exploration of space

!Laika: the first space
traveller Space
begins about 100 km or 62 miles above the earth. A more realistic way to
travel in space is with a **rocket**. Within a rocket is a controlled
explosion. However, exhaust (things left over after burning) is only
allowed to leave the rocket in one direction. As a result, the rocket is
pushed in the other direction. In 1942, the German rocket *A-4* became
the first to reach that height, but it wasn\'t meant to do anything but
fall straight down again and so wasn\'t terribly useful. Still, it was
an advance in rocket technology.

The Soviets were the first to put anything in space that would stay up:
they launched the *Sputnik 1* satellite on October 4, 1957. Within a
month, the Soviets launched *Sputnik 2*, and in that spacecraft was the
first space traveler: a dog called Laika.

The launch of the *Sputnik* started the Space Race, a competition
between the United States and the Soviet Union to obtain more and more
advanced space technology. Americans were very surprised that the
Soviets could have launched \'Sputnik\', and began to design rockets and
satellites of their own. The race would last for the next few decades.

## A man in Space

!Yuri Gagarin_-_Restoration.jpg "Yuri Gagarin") On
April 12, 1961, the first person was sent into space: Yuri Gagarin, a
Soviet, riding in the spacecraft *Vostok 1*. The Soviets would send more
people into space over the next few decades, and so would the Americans,
but it wouldn\'t be until 2003 that a different country would launch
their own spacecraft with a person in it: China, with the *Shenzhou 5*.

## The race to the moon

!An Astronaut on the
Moon. At
the beginning of the 1960s, American president John F. Kennedy made a
famous speech in which he said that the U.S. was going to send people to
the moon within the next 10 years. And that\'s what happened: in July of
1969, Neil Armstrong stepped off the there spacecraft and said \"One
small step for \[a\] man and one giant leap for mankind\". He and Buzz
Aldrin walked on the moon where they put an American flag. Their
footprints are still there because there is no wind or water on the Moon
to wash them away.

## The Space Shuttle

!Launch of a space
shuttle.

After the Apollo program that sent people to the Moon, the U.S. built
the Space Shuttle, that is like a jet-plane that can go to space and
return (with the help of rockets of course)! The Space Shuttle helped to
construct the ISS (International Space Station) among another things.

The last space shuttle mission was on June 28, 2011, but it will be
replaced with new vehicles that will take mankind to the Moon, Mars, and
beyond!

## Spaceships of the future

Right now, spaceships are not very efficient. The Saturn V rocket was
363 feet or nearly 111 meters tall, and it could only take people to the
moon! To get people further, better rockets must be invented. One of the
most popular ideas for a rocket is the **antimatter** rocket. This type
of rocket collides a small amount of **antimatter** with an equal amount
of normal **matter** to create a large amount of energy!

Other ideas for going into space, that do not need rockets, have been
thought of by scientists and astronomers. One of these is a space
elevator. A space elevator is basically a big lift into space. It will
cost a lot less to get things up into space if a space elevator is
built. !Is this what space travel will look like in the
future?
Another idea, a bit like the Jules Verne idea, is an electromagnetic
catapult. This catapult works by accelerating the spaceship along a
rail, similar to a maglev train. Unfortunately, the air on Earth would
set spaceships on fire as they launched, but scientists aren\'t thinking
of putting one there: one could go on the Moon! The catapult on the moon
could send metal and other resources to Earth\'s orbit, where a space
station could collect them.

## Exploration beyond the Solar System

Many people dream of the day when humans can travel to another star and
explore other worlds, some people wonder what\'s out there some belive
that aliens or other life may live on another plant. But, if this ever
does happen probably won\'t happen for a very long time. The stars are
so spread out that there are trillions of miles between stars that are
\"neighbors\". Maybe one day, your great grandchildren will be standing
atop an alien world wondering about their ancient ancestors?

## The eye beyond Earth

!The Hubble Telescope as seen by the space
shuttle.
Many people say the very best invention ever (not just in space
technology) was the Hubble space telescope (HST). Others say it\'s just
the space station being selfish having the best technology in the world.

The Hubble Space telescope is a giant telescope that is in orbit around
the Earth. Because there is no atmosphere, the Hubble Space Telescope
has a clear view of even distant galaxies. One of the pictures the
Hubble space telescope has made is called the \'Hubble Deep Field\'. The
Hubble Deep Field is a picture of some of the most distant galaxies, and
it gives a snapshot of what the universe looked like when it was
younger. !A futuristic space telescope planned for the year
2021.
Even bigger telescopes are also in the planning, so we might be able to
see right to the edge of the universe some day soon.

de:Wikijunior Sonnensystem/
Raumforschung
