George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt (16 page)

NASA's Project Gemini followed. Gemini was a very important project, since it taught astronauts how to dock vehicles in space. It also allowed them to practice operations such as space walks—also called EVAs (Extra Vehicular Activity). But the first space walk ever performed was by a Russian cosmonaut, Alexei Leonov, in 1965. The Russians didn't make it to the Moon, however, with this honor going to the United States in 1969.

 

The First Space Stations

After the race to land on the Moon was over, many people became less interested in space programs. However, both the Russians and the Americans still had big plans. The Russians were working on a supersecret program called Almaz, or Diamond. They wanted to have a manned space station orbiting the Earth. After a doomed first attempt, the next versions, Salyut-3 and then Salyut-5, were more successful, but neither of them lasted for much more than a year.

 

The Americans developed their own version, Skylab—an orbiting space station that was in operation for eight months in 1973. Skylab had a telescope on board that astronauts used to observe the Sun. They brought back solar photographs, including x-ray images of solar flares and dark spots on the Sun.

 

A Handshake in Space

At this time on Earth—the mid 1970s—both the USSR and the U.S. were locked into what was known as the Cold War. This meant the two sides were not actually fighting a war, but they disliked and distrusted each other very strongly. However, in space the two countries began to work together. In 1975 the
Apollo–Soyuz
project saw the first "handshake in space" between the two opposing superpowers.
Apollo
, the U.S. spacecraft, docked with
Soyuz
, the Soviet one, and the American astronaut and Russian cosmonaut—who would have had difficulty meeting in person on Earth—shook hands with each other.

 

The Shuttle

The space shuttle was a new type of spacecraft. Unlike the craft that went before it, it was reusable, designed to fly into space like a rocket but also to glide back to Earth and land like an airplane on a runway. The shuttle was also designed to take cargo as well as astronauts into space. The first U.S. shuttle,
Columbia
, was launched in 1981.

 

The ISS

In 1986 the Russians launched space station

Mir, which means “world” or “peace.”

Mir was the first elaborate and large space station ever to orbit the Earth. It was built in space over a span of ten years and designed as a space laboratory so that scientists could carry out experiments in a nearly gravity-free environment. Mir was the size of six buses and was home to between three and six astronauts at a time.

 

The International Space Station (ISS) was built in space with its construction beginning in 1998. Orbiting the globe every ninety minutes, this research facility is a symbol of international cooperation with scientists and astronauts from many countries involved both in running it and spending time there. The ISS is serviced by a space shuttle from NASA, the
Soyuz
spacecraft from Russia, and the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicles. The crew also have permanent escape vehicles, in case they need to make an emergency exit!

 

The Future

In 2010 the space shuttle will go out of service and the ISS will receive supplies and crew from the Russian
Soyuz
and
Progress
spacecraft.

 

NASA is developing a new type of spacecraft, called
Orion
, which it hopes will take us back to the Moon and possibly beyond—to the red planet, Mars.

 

But a totally new type of space travel is also becoming a reality. In the future, space tourists may be able to take short, suborbital flights. One day, perhaps, we will all be able to take vacations on the Moon!