Introduction Exploration beyond our world began in 1957 when the world’s first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 was fired into space The Russian Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space in 1961 and just eight years after that US astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon But the Moon is as far as humans have ventured so far All missions farther than the Moon have been carried out by uncrewed space probes Will humans join machines to explore deep space in the future Read on to find out www.crabtreebooks.com Sputnik 1 was a 23-inch 58 cm metal sphere Long radio antennas beamed signals back to Earth
Contents Our Place in Space Biggest Rockets ever Built New Flags on the Moon Eyes in the Sky Exploring Deep Space Return to the Furnace World Rovers on the Red Planet Exploring the Icy moons of Jupiter Life on Saturn’s moons Voyage into Darkness Planets of Other Stars Starshot to Alpha Centauri Spaceships of the Far Future Glossary Websites and Further Information Index and About the Author 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 31 32
Our place in space We live on planet Earth one of the planets that circle or orbit a star we call the Sun This whole group is called the Solar System Neptune Uranus Saturn Jupiter Mars Earth Venus Moon Mercury 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 How many planets are there Our Solar System has eight major planets including Earth It also has smaller dwarf planets such as distant Pluto All of these planets except Mercury and Venus have smaller objects orbiting them These include natural satellites or moons The eight major planets shown here numbered outward from the Sun 1 Mercury 2 Venus 3 Earth 4 Mars 5 Jupiter 6 Saturn 7 Uranus 8 Neptune How many planets have we explored Humans have been as far as Earth’s Moon but no farther However robotic spacecraft have been to every major planet and flown closely past Pluto Other targets for exploration include comets and asteroids Countless numbers of these chunks of ice and rock are left over from the birth of our Solar System 4
Where do humans fly in space Since the Apollo Moon landings of 1969-72 humans have gone only as far as low Earth orbit LEO This is where the International Space Station ISS circles our planet at about 250 miles 400 km above Earth Where will we go next A return to the Moon is a likely next step though probably not before the mid-2020s Beyond the Moon the planet Mars is the most Earthlike world in the Solar System A Mars mission carrying a human crew is a long-term aim for a number of space agencies Mars is also a prime target for SpaceX a California-based rocket company The ISS is a multi-national base and science laboratory that orbits Earth It will be in use until at least the mid-2020s Where will future robotic missions go There are plenty of exploration missions being planned These range from probing the Moon and Mars to exploring the icy moons of Jupiter The New Horizons space probe has already flown past the dwarf planet Pluto beyond Neptune Right now and for many years to come New Horizons will continue to explore the lonely regions of space that lie even farther away In the near future we could build a permanent Moon base Much of the work will be done by robots Humans would go to live there when the base is ready 5
