Space has always attracted man. Man has looked up to the sky in wonder and marvel. Efforts have been made from ancient times to unravel its mysteries. The modern age is rightly called the space age. It began with the launch of the Sputniks by Russia in 1957. In 1958, America too sent its satellites into space. These researches have revealed many new facts about the Earth, the Solar system, planets, and other heavenly bodies. In 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first man to travel into space. The first woman to go into space was also a Russian. The landing on the moon was a historical achievement, which was done by the American astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin. They reached there onboard the spaceship Apollo-11 in the four-legged Lunar Module. Since then 12 American astronauts have walked on the surface of the Moon. They have brought with them 380 kg of rock samples from there. Other missions to have taken place. The US Pioneer-10 was the first spaceship to fly past Jupiter. It sent many close pictures of the planet. These were followed by the launch of sky-labs. The Russian space station Mir was launched in 1986, which served for twenty years. Docking, space-walking, and space-repairs have now become common. The first space shuttle, launched in 1976 by the US, was Enterprise. The first Indian to go into space was Rakesh Sharma. He was sent into space on 13th April 1984 onboard a Russian spaceship, Soyuz. Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams are the other women of Indian origin who have gone into space. Now, space exploration has begun on the surface of the planet Mars with the landing of America’s unmanned probe vehicle. The future holds many space wonders and achievements, including space tourism by private operators.
