History of Space Travel

Perhaps nothing has captured human imagination more than space travel, and the manned missions to the moon are the crowning achievement in the history of space travel. The Apollo missions are the ones that most people remember exploring the moon, but there were several moon missions in the history of space travel that paved the way.

The Soviet Union began moon travel with unmanned missions, beginning in 1965 and continuing through 1976. These were the Luna missions, and were much more advanced than most people give them credit for. These unmanned missions were much more than just dumping a ship on the moon and leaving it there- some had landers that actually brought samples back to the Earth. The first really successful Luna mission, meaning one that did not crash, sent back the first TV images of the moon's surface.

The U.S. began the Ranger series, most of which were fantastically unsuccessful, some crashing on the moon and some simply streaking past it, missing it by miles. Then in 1964, Ranger 7 sent back close up photos of the moon for the first time in human history. The U.S. then had a few successful Lunar Orbiter missions that captured detailed photographs of the moon. Then, in 1968, the first people orbited the moon with the Apollo 8 mission. Apollo 11 brought the first humans to the moon's surface, cementing the U.S.'s place in the competitive Cold War space race and just generally freaking everyone out.

After six groups of humans explored the moon in the Apollo missions, the exploration of the moon continued through the 1998 Lunar Prospector, which the U.S. sent to find evidence of water ice on the moon, studying the polar regions. The Smart-1 reached lunar orbit in 2005 for more photographic research.

The history of space travel has since taken a very different turn. Since those first heady U.S. vs. U.S.S.R. testosterone-laced days, the U.S. and Russia now have very little planned for the moon in the near future. The next lunar missions planned are mainly from Asian countries- China, Japan, and India. The U.S. and Russia have very little planned, the most exciting being an almost-committal goal from President Bush for manned moon missions by 2020.

So what's up? Why is it that we have no one on the moon currently, and no real plans for going back again anytime soon? And do we really need to go back? Perhaps not anytime soon. Someday there may be a need for a lunar colony, and even if there were not, it would be pretty cool to have. But judging from the countries that have launched moon missions, and the timeline in which they were launched, it seems more of a status mission than something that is really needed. The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. had a lot of prove in their game of psychological warfare, just like Asia does now. Asia's emerging markets are begging to be taken more seriously, and what says success better than your people walking around on the moon? The moon is kind of like a Prada bag (or tie) in a way- you don't really need it, but it looks cool and makes you feel better about yourself. And if we can avoid wars with moon missions, then it is all absolutely worthwhile.