22-09-2007 Sputnik (Article 104)

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Simon Kenny
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Location: Shannon, Co. Clare, Ireland

22-09-2007 Sputnik (Article 104)

Post by Simon Kenny » Wed Feb 04, 2009 11:23 am

Sputnik (Article 104)

Fifty years ago next autumn, a momentous event changed the course of human history. In October 1957, Soviet scientists launched the first artificial satellite into space. The satellite was a basketball-sized metallic orb with antennas that transmitted the now famous ‘bleeps’ to receivers on the ground. Those of us old enough, and lucky enough, went outside in the clear autumn twilight and actually saw a little moving spark that proclaimed humankind’s place among the stars, our first tentative steps into the infinite void of space. What matter if the glint was from the upper stage rocket orbiting with Sputnik? The event touched everyone with wonder. We had at last broken the shackles of gravity that bound us to the Earth. The infinite possibilities of space beckoned. In time it would inspire new pioneers, new voyagers, like the Vikings, Magellan, Galileo, Cassini, and it did. Before long, gravity, which once ensnared us to the Earth, was used by scientists to steer their craft on voyages of discovery to neighbouring and distant planets. In the brave new world of ‘The Final Frontier’, gravity, our master, was becoming our partner and assistant in our outreach to the stars.

Looking back on that heady time when we wondered at the tiny spark that carried our dreams, it was difficult to imagine the profound effects it would have in the following fifty years. Rocket, electronic, computer and robotics technology advanced exponentially as the USSR and USA competed with each other in what became known as ‘The Space Race’. Military advantage undoubtedly added to the impetus, but the most memorable and proudest achievements came from spacecraft that gave us a new perspective of our world, our solar system, our cosmos. One of these moments was seeing photos of the far side of the Moon, sent back by the Soviet probe, Luna 3, in October 1959, or the thousands of photos from the Moon’s surface returned by the USA’s Surveyor 1, the first craft to soft-land on another celestial body in 1966. Today, nearly forty years later, the video footage taken by the crew of Apollo 8 of planet Earth rising above the Moon’s horizon remains profoundly moving. Most memorable of all perhaps, is that grainy video footage of Neil Armstrong, as he became the first human being to step on to another celestial body, uttering the famous words: ‘That’s one small step for a man…’

For the rest of humanity, it mattered little which country achieved these marvellous feats. The achievements of the space age made us realise our common bond to our mother planet which, when viewed from space, looked beautiful, but also small and vulnerable against the inky void. For once, we transcended our many divisions and celebrated our common achievements. A plaque left by the Apollo 11 crew stated: ‘We came in peace for all mankind’.

May this thought inspire all future voyages to the cosmos. Clear skies.

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