50th anniversary of space exploration

[Royston]

Admittedly I'm a day late, but yesterday marked half a century of space exploration, which of course was the launch of Sputnik I, and was clearly a catalyst for technological developments between the Soviet Union and the US. Here's an article from PhysicsWorld (formerly know as PhysicsWeb.)

 

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/31388;jsessionid=BBD13BDC510B12517BC1D06FA2060C1D

On 4 October 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1' date=' the first artificial satellite. 50 years later, and people around the globe have been celebrating what was the harbinger of space exploration.

 

In Star City — the Russian cosmonaut training centre just outside of Moscow — former cosmonauts, military officials and engineers gathered earlier today to reminisce over events leading up to the launch. At the foot of the Kremlin walls, military officials laid flowers on the grave of Sergei Korolyov, the influential rocket scientist who led the Soviet satellite program. “Of course, speaking for just us scientists [the launch'] sparked an unexpected furore around the world. No-one expected this, even including our engineers,” Viktor Frusmon, one of Korolyov’s colleagues, told Russian reporters

[Mr Skeptic]

50 years and yet, here we are, still on the same little rock we started on.

[insane_alien]

well, you don't go from tin can + radio transmitter to interglactic hyperdrives in 50 years.

[Pangloss]

That's not what they say in the eastern Andromeda galaxy!

[Martin]

Yeah, but they have longer years.

[ydoaPs]

well, you don't go from tin can + radio transmitter to interglactic hyperdrives in 50 years.

 

No, you head that way for a few decades and just stop.

[insane_alien]

That's not what they say in the eastern Andromeda galaxy!

 

yeah, but those guys got help from the western andromeda galaxy.

[Reaper]

What are you guys talking about, they wouldn't have done it were it not for the galaxy far far away!

 

50 years and yet, here we are, still on the same little rock we started on.

 

 

yeah, its a shame, isn't it. But I think it will happen one day, just be patient. We'll get there when we do.

 

That is, if an asteroid doesn't hit us first, or some other calamity that happens to wipe us out...

[Mr Skeptic]

yeah, its a shame, isn't it. But I think it will happen one day, just be patient. We'll get there when we do.

 

That is, if an asteroid doesn't hit us first, or some other calamity that happens to wipe us out...

 

Hm, do you think that we will have a pissing match with China like we had with Russia? They will be landing rovers on the moon soon, and will brag it up bigtime. Nothing like a little competition to get space exploration going strong again.