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To The Moon...And Beyond

Spanish Translation

Joe McGowan

About the size of a large beach ball and weighing only 184 pounds, Sputnik was a small satellite. But its impact was astronomical. The former Soviet Union successfully launched the man-made satellite on October 4, 1957. And, faster than the 98 minutes it took Sputnik to orbit the Earth, the space age had begun. Mankind had been propelled into a new era of exploration.

The launch marked the start of a space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. (In 1991, the Soviet Union began breaking up into many nations, including Russia.) In 1958, the U.S. established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to lead the country into space. For the next 17 years, the two superpowers worked to top each other on the new frontier. The competition led to amazing achievements. A Soviet cosmonaut orbited Earth. The U.S. Apollo missions put 12 men on the moon by 1972.

But in the U.S., early successes were overshadowed by the Vietnam War and Apollo 13, a failed moon-landing mission. Public interest in manned spaceflight faded. Scientists focused on reusable shuttles that did not venture beyond Earth's orbit. Ambitious unmanned missions have revealed secrets of our solar system. But it has been 35 years since anyone has stepped on the moon.

Today, teams are ready to regain their footing. They aim for manned exploration of the moon, Mars and more. "For the next generations, the frontier will be space," said Michael Griffin, NASA's administrator.

Next Stop, The Moon

In 2006, NASA announced a plan to return humans to the moon by 2020. This time, NASA expects to establish a lasting presence on the lunar surface, with a base near one of the poles. At first, this outpost will support four-person crews for seven-day visits. Later, stays of up to 180 days will prepare crews for voyages to Mars and beyond. NASA says it has the money to make the first phase of the plan fly. Still, the agency is following a "go-as-we-can-afford-to-pay" approach.

Griffin says the first manned flights to Mars could occur in the next decade. NASA has long studied the Red Planet. On August 4, its Phoenix Mars mission blasted off. It is due to arrive in spring 2008, when its landing vehicle will touch down near the Martian north pole. In 2002, the Odyssey mission found evidence of ice just beneath Mars's top layer of soil. During its three-month expedition on Mars, Phoenix's seven instruments will study the history of that ice, monitor weather and try to determine if the region ever supported life.

A Global Space Community

Recently, new challengers have entered the space race. In 2003, China became the third country to send a human into space. India hopes to have astronauts in orbit by 2014.

Even private citizens are competing. On September 13, the Internet company Google and the X Prize Foundation announced the Google Lunar X Prize contest. To win the $20 million top award, a team must successfully land a spacecraft on the moon by 2012. The robotic craft must rove at least one-third of a mile and send data back to Earth. "We hope to ignite the imagination of children around the world," said Peter Diamandis, head of the X Prize Foundation.

That's you he's talking about. After all, the future of space travel is yours. Are you ready for liftoff?

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