The Space Age Dawned

50 years ago on October 4, 1957 the then Soviet Union launched the first man-made object into orbit around the earth - Sputnik. In the 50 years since, mankind has set foot on the moon, sent satellites through the Solar System (Voyager I has essentially entered into interstellar space), and through "rovers" has driven around on the planet of Mars. Pretty remarkable considering the relatively short time in which this has all occured.

For a great read about the dawn of the space-age and how it actually came about check out the book by William E. Burrows entitled This New Ocean (Amazon.com). This chronicles the story not only of space exploration, but the development of the rockets that allowed this to happen. From the ancient Chinese to the German V2 to the space shuttle. One of my favorite parts of the book is the recounting of how the Americans (and I think the Canadians played a role too?) racing to get to the German V2 equipment (and Scientists) before the Russians and taking as much as we could before the Russians knew what we had done!

There will be a lot more big anniversaries coming related to space exploration and I will try to highlight those as they occur since I am kind of a space nerd of sorts!

If you want to hear the "beep" that Sputnik broadcasted as it orbited click here. Other information concerning Sputnik can be found on the JPL Website and Space.com.