The most important stages of space exploration. Development of astronautics

The history of space exploration is the most striking example of the triumph of the human mind over rebellious matter in the shortest possible time. From the moment a man-made object first overcame Earth's gravity and developed sufficient speed to enter Earth's orbit, only a little over fifty years have passed - nothing by the standards of history! Most of the planet's population vividly remembers the times when a flight to the moon was considered something out of science fiction, and those who dreamed of piercing the heavenly heights were considered, at best, crazy people not dangerous to society. Today, spaceships not only “travel the vast expanse”, successfully maneuvering in conditions of minimal gravity, but also deliver cargo, astronauts and space tourists into Earth orbit. Moreover, the duration of a flight into space can now be as long as desired. long time: the shift of Russian cosmonauts on the ISS, for example, lasts 6-7 months. And over the past half century, man has managed to walk on the Moon and photograph its dark side, blessed Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury with artificial satellites, “recognized by sight” distant nebulae with the help of the Hubble telescope, and is seriously thinking about colonizing Mars. And although we have not yet succeeded in making contact with aliens and angels (at least officially), let us not despair - after all, everything is just beginning!

Dreams of space and attempts at writing

For the first time in the reality of flight to distant worlds progressive humanity believed at the end of the 19th century. It was then that it became clear that if the aircraft is given the speed necessary to overcome gravity and maintains it for a sufficient time, it will be able to go beyond the limits earth's atmosphere and gain a foothold in orbit, like the Moon, revolving around the Earth. The problem was in the engines. The existing specimens at that time either spat extremely powerfully but briefly with bursts of energy, or worked on the principle of “gasp, groan and go away little by little.” The first was more suitable for bombs, the second - for carts. In addition, it was impossible to regulate the thrust vector and thereby influence the trajectory of the apparatus: a vertical launch inevitably led to its rounding, and as a result the body fell to the ground, never reaching space; the horizontal one, with such a release of energy, threatened to destroy all living things around (as if the current ballistic missile launched flat). Finally, at the beginning of the 20th century, researchers turned their attention to a rocket engine, the operating principle of which has been known to mankind since the turn of our era: fuel burns in the rocket body, simultaneously lightening its mass, and the released energy moves the rocket forward. The first rocket capable of launching an object beyond the limits of gravity was designed by Tsiolkovsky in 1903.

View of Earth from the ISS

First artificial satellite

Time passed, and although two world wars greatly slowed down the process of creating rockets for peaceful use, space progress still did not stand still. The key moment of the post-war period was the adoption of the so-called package rocket layout, which is still used in astronautics today. Its essence is the simultaneous use of several rockets placed symmetrically with respect to the center of mass of the body that needs to be launched into Earth orbit. This provides a powerful, stable and uniform thrust, sufficient for the object to move at a constant speed of 7.9 km/s, necessary to overcome gravity. And so, on October 4, 1957, a new, or rather the first, era in space exploration began - the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, like everything ingenious, simply called “Sputnik-1”, using the R-7 rocket, designed under the leadership of Sergei Korolev. The silhouette of the R-7, the ancestor of all subsequent space rockets, is still recognizable today in the ultra-modern Soyuz launch vehicle, which successfully sends “trucks” and “cars” into orbit with cosmonauts and tourists on board - the same four “legs” of the package design and red nozzles. The first satellite was microscopic, just over half a meter in diameter and weighed only 83 kg. It completed a full revolution around the Earth in 96 minutes. " Star life The journey of the iron pioneer of astronautics lasted three months, but during this period he covered a fantastic distance of 60 million km!

The first living creatures in orbit

The success of the first launch inspired the designers, and the prospect of sending them into space Living being and returning him safe and sound no longer seemed impossible. Just a month after the launch of Sputnik 1, the first animal, the dog Laika, went into orbit on board the second artificial Earth satellite. Her goal was honorable, but sad - to test the survival of living beings in space flight conditions. Moreover, the return of the dog was not planned... The launch and insertion of the satellite into orbit was successful, but after four orbits around the Earth, due to an error in the calculations, the temperature inside the device rose excessively, and Laika died. The satellite itself rotated in space for another 5 months, and then lost speed and burned up in dense layers of the atmosphere. The first shaggy cosmonauts to greet their “senders” with a joyful bark upon their return were the textbook Belka and Strelka, who set off to conquer the heavens on the fifth satellite in August 1960. Their flight lasted just over a day, and during this time the dogs managed to fly around the planet 17 times. All this time, they were watched from monitor screens in the Mission Control Center - by the way, it was precisely because of the contrast that white dogs were chosen - because the image was then black and white. As a result of the launch, the spacecraft itself was also finalized and finally approved - in just 8 months, the first person will go into space in a similar apparatus.

In addition to dogs, both before and after 1961, monkeys (macaques, squirrel monkeys and chimpanzees), cats, turtles, as well as all sorts of little things - flies, beetles, etc., were in space.

During the same period, the USSR launched the first artificial satellite of the Sun, the Luna-2 station managed to softly land on the surface of the planet, and the first photographs of the side of the Moon invisible from Earth were obtained.

The day of April 12, 1961 divided the history of the exploration of space into two periods - “when man dreamed of the stars” and “since man conquered space.”

Man in space

The day of April 12, 1961 divided the history of the exploration of space into two periods - “when man dreamed of the stars” and “since man conquered space.” At 9:07 Moscow time, the Vostok-1 spacecraft with the world's first cosmonaut on board, Yuri Gagarin, was launched from launch pad No. 1 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Having made one revolution around the Earth and traveled 41 thousand km, 90 minutes after the start, Gagarin landed near Saratov, standing on long years the most famous, revered and beloved person on the planet. His “let’s go!” and “everything is visible very clearly - space is black - the earth is blue” were included in the list of the most famous phrases of humanity, his open smile, ease and cordiality melted the hearts of people around the world. The first manned flight into space was controlled from Earth; Gagarin himself was more of a passenger, albeit an excellently prepared one. It should be noted that the flight conditions were far from those that are now offered to space tourists: Gagarin experienced eight to tenfold overloads, there was a period when the ship was literally tumbling, and behind the windows the skin was burning and the metal was melting. During the flight, several failures occurred in various systems of the ship, but fortunately, the astronaut was not injured.

Following Gagarin's flight, significant milestones in the history of space exploration fell one after another: the world's first group space flight was completed, then the first female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova went into space (1963), the first multi-seat flight took place spaceship, Alexey Leonov became the first person to perform a spacewalk (1965) - and all these grandiose events are entirely the merit of the Russian cosmonautics. Finally, on July 21, 1969, the first man landed on the Moon: American Neil Armstrong took that “small, big step.”

Best View in the Solar System

Cosmonautics - today, tomorrow and always

Today, space travel is taken for granted. Hundreds of satellites and thousands of other necessary and useless objects fly above us, seconds before sunrise from the bedroom window you can see the planes of the solar panels of the International Space Station flashing in rays still invisible from the ground, space tourists with enviable regularity set off to “surf the open spaces” (thereby embodying the ironic phrase “if you really want to, you can fly into space”) and the era of commercial suborbital flights with almost two departures daily is about to begin. The exploration of space by controlled vehicles is absolutely amazing: there are pictures of stars that exploded long ago, and HD images of distant galaxies, and strong evidence of the possibility of the existence of life on other planets. Billionaire corporations are already coordinating plans to build space hotels in Earth’s orbit, and projects for the colonization of our neighboring planets no longer seem like an excerpt from the novels of Asimov or Clark. One thing is obvious: once having overcome earth's gravity, humanity will again and again strive upward, to the endless worlds of stars, galaxies and universes. I would only like to wish that the beauty of the night sky and myriads of twinkling stars, still alluring, mysterious and beautiful, as in the first days of creation, never leaves us.

Space reveals its secrets

Academician Blagonravov dwelled on some new achievements of Soviet science: in the field of space physics.

Beginning on January 2, 1959, each flight of Soviet space rockets conducted a study of radiation at large distances from the Earth. Detailed study The so-called outer radiation belt of the Earth, discovered by Soviet scientists, was exposed. Studying the composition of particles in radiation belts using various scintillation and gas-discharge counters located on satellites and space rockets made it possible to establish that the outer belt contains electrons of significant energies up to a million electron volts and even higher. When braking in the shells of spacecraft, they create intense piercing X-ray radiation. During the flight of the automatic interplanetary station towards Venus, it was determined average energy This X-ray radiation at distances from 30 to 40 thousand kilometers from the center of the Earth is about 130 kiloelectronvolts. This value changed little with the distance, which allows us to judge the constant energy spectrum electrons in this area.

Already the first studies showed instability of the outer radiation belt, movements of the maximum intensity associated with magnetic storms caused by solar corpuscular flows. The latest measurements from an automatic interplanetary station launched towards Venus showed that although changes in intensity occur closer to Earth, the outer boundary of the outer belt, with a quiet state of the magnetic field, remained constant for almost two years both in intensity and in spatial location. Research recent years also made it possible to construct a model of the ionized gas shell of the Earth based on experimental data for a period close to the maximum of solar activity. Our studies have shown that at altitudes of less than a thousand kilometers, the main role is played by atomic oxygen ions, and starting from altitudes lying between one and two thousand kilometers, hydrogen ions predominate in the ionosphere. The extent of the outermost region of the Earth's ionized gas shell, the so-called hydrogen “corona,” is very large.

Processing of the results of measurements carried out on the first Soviet space rockets showed that at altitudes of approximately 50 to 75 thousand kilometers outside the outer radiation belt, electron flows with energies exceeding 200 electron volts were detected. This allowed us to assume the existence of a third outermost belt of charged particles with a high flux intensity, but lower energy. After the launch of the American Pioneer V space rocket in March 1960, data were obtained that confirmed our assumptions about the existence of a third belt of charged particles. This belt is apparently formed as a result of the penetration of solar corpuscular flows into the peripheral regions of the Earth's magnetic field.

New data were obtained regarding the spatial location of the Earth's radiation belts, and an area of ​​increased radiation was discovered in the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean, which is associated with a corresponding terrestrial magnetic anomaly. In this area, the lower boundary of the Earth's internal radiation belt drops to 250 - 300 kilometers from the Earth's surface.

The flights of the second and third satellites provided new information that made it possible to map the distribution of radiation by ion intensity above the surface globe. (The speaker demonstrates this map to the audience).

For the first time, currents created by positive ions included in solar corpuscular radiation were recorded outside the Earth's magnetic field at distances of the order of hundreds of thousands of kilometers from the Earth, using three-electrode charged particle traps installed on Soviet space rockets. In particular, on the automatic interplanetary station launched towards Venus, traps were installed oriented towards the Sun, one of which was intended to record solar corpuscular radiation. On February 17, during a communication session with the automatic interplanetary station, its passage through a significant flow of corpuscles (with a density of about 10 9 particles per square centimeter per second) was recorded. This observation coincided with the observation of a magnetic storm. Such experiments open the way to establishing quantitative relationships between geomagnetic disturbances and the intensity of solar corpuscular flows. On the second and third satellites, the radiation hazard caused by cosmic radiation outside the Earth's atmosphere was studied in quantitative terms. The same satellites were used to study the chemical composition of primary cosmic radiation. The new equipment installed on the satellite ships included a photoemulsion device designed to expose and develop stacks of thick-film emulsions directly on board the ship. The results obtained are of great scientific value for elucidating the biological influence of cosmic radiation.

Flight technical problems

Next, the speaker focused on a number of significant problems that ensured the organization of human flight into space. First of all, it was necessary to resolve the issue of methods for launching a heavy ship into orbit, for which it was necessary to have powerful rocket technology. We have created such a technique. However, it was not enough to inform the ship of a speed exceeding the first cosmic speed. High precision of launching the ship into a pre-calculated orbit was also necessary.

It should be borne in mind that the requirements for the accuracy of orbital movement will increase in the future. This will require movement correction using special propulsion systems. Related to the problem of trajectory correction is the problem of maneuvering a directional change in the flight trajectory of a spacecraft. Maneuvers can be carried out with the help of impulses transmitted by a jet engine in individual specially selected sections of trajectories, or with the help of thrust that lasts for a long time, for the creation of which electric jet engines (ion, plasma) are used.

Examples of maneuvers include transition to a higher orbit, transition to an orbit entering the dense layers of the atmosphere for braking and landing in a given area. The latter type of maneuver was used when landing Soviet satellite ships with dogs on board and when landing the Vostok satellite.

To carry out a maneuver, perform a number of measurements and for other purposes, it is necessary to ensure stabilization of the satellite ship and its orientation in space, maintained for a certain period of time or changed according to a given program.

Turning to the problem of returning to Earth, the speaker focused on the following issues: speed deceleration, protection from heating when moving in dense layers of the atmosphere, ensuring landing in a given area.

Braking of the spacecraft necessary for damping escape velocity, can be carried out either using a special powerful propulsion system, or by braking the device in the atmosphere. The first of these methods requires very large reserves of weight. Using atmospheric resistance for braking allows you to get by with relatively little additional weight.

The complex of problems associated with the development of protective coatings during braking of a vehicle in the atmosphere and the organization of the entry process with overloads acceptable for the human body represents a complex scientific and technical problem.

The rapid development of space medicine has put on the agenda the issue of biological telemetry as the main means of medical monitoring and scientific medical research during space flight. The use of radio telemetry leaves a specific imprint on the methodology and technology of biomedical research, since the equipment placed on board spacecraft has a number of requirements: special requirements. This equipment should have very light weight and small dimensions. It should be designed for minimal energy consumption. In addition, the onboard equipment must operate stably during the active phase and during descent, when vibrations and overloads are present.

Sensors designed to convert physiological parameters into electrical signals must be miniature, designed for long-term operation. They should not create inconvenience for the astronaut.

The widespread use of radio telemetry in space medicine forces researchers to pay serious attention to the design of such equipment, as well as to matching the volume of information necessary for transmission with the capacity of radio channels. Since new challenges facing space medicine will lead to further deepening of research and the need to significantly increase the number of recorded parameters, the introduction of systems that store information and coding methods will be required.

In conclusion, the speaker dwelled on the question of why the option of orbiting the Earth was chosen for the first space travel. This option represented a decisive step towards conquest outer space. They provided research into the issue of the influence of flight duration on a person, solved the problem of controlled flight, the problem of controlling the descent, entering the dense layers of the atmosphere and safely returning to Earth. Compared to this, the flight recently carried out in the USA seems of little value. It could be important as an intermediate option for checking a person’s condition during the acceleration stage, during overloads during descent; but after Yu. Gagarin’s flight there was no longer a need for such a check. In this version of the experiment, the element of sensation certainly prevailed. The only value of this flight can be seen in testing the operation of the developed systems that ensure entry into the atmosphere and landing, but, as we have seen, the testing of similar systems developed in our Soviet Union for more difficult conditions was reliably carried out even before the first human space flight. Thus, the achievements achieved in our country on April 12, 1961 cannot be compared in any way with what has been achieved so far in the United States.

And no matter how hard, the academician says, people abroad who are hostile to the Soviet Union try to belittle the successes of our science and technology with their fabrications, the whole world evaluates these successes properly and sees how much our country has moved forward along the path of technical progress. I personally witnessed the delight and admiration that was caused by the news of the historic flight of our first cosmonaut among the broad masses of the Italian people.

The flight was extremely successful

Report on biological problems space flights were made by academician N. M. Sissakyan. He described the main stages in the development of space biology and summed up some of the results of scientific biological research related to space flights.

The speaker cited the medical and biological characteristics of Yu. A. Gagarin's flight. The barometric pressure was maintained in the cabin within 750 – 770 millimeters mercury, air temperature – 19 – 22 degrees Celsius, relative humidity– 62 – 71 percent.

In the pre-launch period, approximately 30 minutes before the launch of the spacecraft, the heart rate was 66 per minute, the respiratory rate was 24. Three minutes before the launch, some emotional stress manifested itself in an increase in heart rate to 109 beats per minute, breathing continued to remain even and calm.

At the moment the spacecraft took off and gradually gained speed, the heart rate increased to 140 - 158 per minute, the respiratory rate was 20 - 26. Changes in physiological indicators during the active phase of the flight, according to telemetric recordings of electrocardiograms and pneimograms, were within acceptable limits. By the end of the active section, the heart rate was already 109, and the respiration rate was 18 per minute. In other words, these indicators reached the values ​​characteristic of the moment closest to the start.

During the transition to weightlessness and flight in this state, cardiovascular and respiratory systems consistently approached the initial values. So, already in the tenth minute of weightlessness, the pulse rate reached 97 beats per minute, breathing - 22. Performance was not impaired, movements retained coordination and the necessary accuracy.

During the descent section, during braking of the apparatus, when overloads arose again, short-term, rapidly passing periods of increased breathing were noted. However, already upon approaching the Earth, breathing became even, calm, with a frequency of about 16 per minute.

Three hours after landing, the heart rate was 68, breathing was 20 per minute, i.e., values ​​​​characteristic of the calm, normal state of Yu. A. Gagarin.

All this indicates that the flight was extremely successful, well-being and general state The astronaut's performance was satisfactory during all phases of the flight. Life support systems were working normally.

In conclusion, the speaker focused on the most important upcoming problems of space biology.

Space exploration is the process of studying and exploring outer space, with the help of special manned vehicles, as well as automatic vehicles.

Stage I – first launch of the spacecraft

The date when space exploration began is considered to be October 4, 1957 - this is the day when Soviet Union within its space program The first spacecraft to launch into space was Sputnik 1. On this day, Cosmonautics Day is celebrated annually in the USSR and then in Russia.
The USA and the USSR competed with each other in space exploration and the first battle remained with the Union.

Stage II – the first man in space

An even more important day in the framework of space exploration in the Soviet Union is the first launch of a spacecraft with a man on board, which was Yuri Gagarin.

Gagarin became the first person to go into space and return safe and sound to Earth.

Stage III – first landing on the Moon

Although the Soviet Union was the first to go into space and even the first to launch a person into Earth orbit, the United States became the first whose astronauts were able to successfully land on the closest space body from Earth - the Moon satellite.

This fateful event occurred on July 21, 1969 as part of NASA's Apollo 11 space program. The first person to walk on the surface of the earth was the American Neil Armstrong. Then the famous phrase was said in the news: “This is a small step for a person, but a huge leap for all mankind.” Armstrong not only managed to visit the surface of the Moon, but also brought soil samples to Earth.

Stage IV - humanity goes beyond the solar system

In 1972, a spacecraft called Pioneer 10 was launched, which, after passing near Saturn, went beyond solar system. And although Pioneer 10 did not report anything new about the world outside our system, it became proof that humanity is capable of reaching other systems.

Stage V – launch of the reusable spacecraft Columbia

In 1981, NASA launched a reusable spacecraft called Columbia, which remained in service for more than twenty years and made almost thirty trips into outer space, providing incredible useful information about him to a person. The shuttle Columbia retires in 2003 to give way to newer spacecraft.

Stage VI – launch of the Mir space orbital station

In 1986, the USSR launched the Mir space station into orbit, which operated until 2001. In total, more than 100 cosmonauts stayed on it and there were more than 2 thousand important experiments.

Perhaps the development of astronautics originates in science fiction: people have always wanted to fly - not only in the air, but also across the vast expanses of space. As soon as people became convinced that the earth's axis was not capable of flying into the heavenly dome and breaking through it, the most inquisitive minds began to wonder - what was there above? It is in the literature that one can find many references to various methods of separation from the Earth: not only natural phenomena like a hurricane, but also quite specific technical means — Balloons, super-powerful guns, flying carpets, rockets and other superjet suits. Although the first more or less realistic description of a flying vehicle can be called the myth of Icarus and Daedalus.

Gradually, from imitative flight (that is, flight based on imitation of birds), humanity moved to flight based on mathematics, logic and the laws of physics. The significant work of aviators in the person of the Wright brothers, Albert Santos-Dumont, Glenn Hammond Curtis only strengthened man's belief that flight is possible, and sooner or later the cold flickering points in the sky will become closer, and then...

The first mentions of astronautics as a science began in the 30s of the twentieth century. The term “cosmonautics” itself appeared in the title scientific work Ari Abramovich Sternfeld "Introduction to Cosmonautics". At home, in Poland, the scientific community was not interested in his works, but they showed interest in Russia, where the author subsequently moved. Later, other theoretical works and even the first experiments appeared. As a science, astronautics was formed only in the middle of the 20th century. And no matter what anyone says, our Motherland opened the way to space.

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky is considered the founder of astronautics. He once said: " First inevitably come: thought, fantasy, fairy tale, and behind them comes precise calculation." Later, in 1883, he suggested the possibility of using jet propulsion to create interplanetary aircraft. But it would be wrong not to mention such a person as Nikolai Ivanovich Kibalchich, who put forward the very idea of ​​​​the possibility of building a rocket aircraft.

In 1903, Tsiolkovsky published scientific work"Exploration of world spaces by rocket instruments", where he comes to the conclusion that rockets on liquid fuel can take people into space. Tsiolkovsky’s calculations showed that space flights are a matter of the near future.

A little later, the works of foreign rocket scientists were added to the works of Tsiolkovsky: in the early 20s, the German scientist Hermann Oberth also outlined the principles of interplanetary flight. In the mid-20s, American Robert Goddard began developing and building a successful prototype of a liquid-propellant rocket engine.

The works of Tsiolkovsky, Oberth and Goddard became a kind of foundation on which rocket science and, later, all of astronautics grew. The main research activities were carried out in three countries: Germany, the USA and the USSR. In Soviet Union research papers conducted by the Jet Propulsion Research Group (Moscow) and the Gas Dynamics Laboratory (Leningrad). On their basis, the Jet Institute (RNII) was created in the 30s.

Specialists such as Johannes Winkler and Wernher von Braun worked in Germany. Their research in the field jet engines gave a powerful impetus to rocket science after the Second World War. Winkler did not live long, but von Braun moved to the United States and for a long time was the real father of the United States space program.

In Russia, Tsiolkovsky’s work was continued by another great Russian scientist, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.

It was he who created the group for the study of jet propulsion, and it was there that the first domestic rockets, GIRD 9 and 10, were created and successfully launched.

You can write so much about technology, people, rockets, the development of engines and materials, solved problems and the path traveled that the article will be longer than the distance from Earth to Mars, so let’s skip some of the details and move on to the most interesting part - practical astronautics.

On October 4, 1957, humanity made the first successful launch of a space satellite. For the first time, the creation of human hands penetrated beyond the earth's atmosphere. On this day, the whole world was amazed by the successes of Soviet science and technology.

What was available to humanity in 1957 from computer technology? Well, it is worth noting that in the 1950s the first computing machines, and only in 1957 the first computer based on transistors (rather than radio tubes) appeared in the USA. There was no talk of any giga-, mega- or even kiloflops. A typical computer of that time occupied a couple of rooms and produced “only” a couple of thousand operations per second (Strela computer).

The progress of the space industry has been enormous. In just a few years, the accuracy of the control systems of launch vehicles and spacecraft has increased so much that from an error of 20-30 km when launching into orbit in 1958, man took the step of landing a vehicle on the Moon within a five-kilometer radius by the mid-60s.

Further - more: in 1965 it became possible to transmit photographs to Earth from Mars (and this is a distance of more than 200,000,000 kilometers), and already in 1980 - from Saturn (a distance of 1,500,000,000 kilometers!). Speaking of the Earth, a combination of technologies now makes it possible to obtain up-to-date, reliable and detailed information about natural resources and environmental conditions

Along with the exploration of space, there was the development of all “related directions” - space communications, television broadcasting, relaying, navigation, and so on. Satellite systems communications began to cover almost the entire world, making two-way operational communication with any subscribers possible. Nowadays there is a satellite navigator in any car (even in a toy car), but back then the existence of such a thing seemed incredible.

In the second half of the 20th century, the era of manned flights began. In the 1960s-1970s, Soviet cosmonauts demonstrated the ability of humans to work outside of a spacecraft, and from the 1980s-1990s people began to live and work in zero gravity conditions for almost years. It is clear that each such trip was accompanied by many different experiments - technical, astronomical, and so on.

A huge contribution to the development of advanced technologies has been made by the design, creation and use of complex space systems. Automatic spacecraft sent into space (including to other planets) are essentially robots that are controlled from Earth using radio commands. The need to create reliable systems for solving similar problems led to a more complete understanding of the problem of analysis and synthesis of complex technical systems. Now such systems are used both in space research and in many other areas of human activity.

Take, for example, the weather - a common thing; in mobile app stores there are dozens and even hundreds of applications for displaying it. But where can we take photographs of the Earth’s cloud cover with enviable frequency, not from the Earth itself? ;) Exactly. Now almost all countries of the world use space weather data for weather information.

Not as fantastic as the words “space forge” sounded 30-40 years ago. In conditions of weightlessness, it is possible to organize such production that it is simply impossible (or not profitable) to develop in conditions of earthly gravity. For example, the state of weightlessness can be used to produce ultrathin crystals of semiconductor compounds. Such crystals will find application in the electronics industry to create a new class of semiconductor devices.

Pictures from my article on processor production

Free floating in the absence of gravity liquid metal and other materials are easily deformed by weak magnetic fields. This opens the way to obtaining ingots of any predetermined shape without crystallizing them in molds, as is done on Earth. The peculiarity of such ingots is the almost complete absence of internal stresses and high purity.

Interesting posts from Habr: habrahabr.ru/post/170865/ + habrahabr.ru/post/188286/

On this moment all over the world there are (more precisely, functioning) more than a dozen cosmodromes with unique ground-based automated complexes, as well as testing stations and all sorts of complex means of preparation for the launch of spacecraft and launch vehicles. In Russia, the Baikonur and Plesetsk cosmodromes are world-famous, and, perhaps, Svobodny, from which experimental launches are periodically carried out.

In general... so many things are already being done in space - sometimes they tell you something you won’t believe :)

LET'S COME IN FUCK!

Moscow, VDNKh metro station - no matter how you look at it, the monument to the “Conquerors of Space” cannot be missed.

But not many people know that in the basement of the 110-meter monument there is most interesting museum cosmonautics, in which you can learn in detail about the history of science: there you will find “Belka” with “Strelka”, and Gagarin with Tereshkova, and spacesuits of astronauts with lunar rovers...

The museum houses a (miniature) Mission Control Center, where you can observe the International Space Station in real time and negotiate with the crew. Interactive cabin "Buran" with a mobility system and panoramic stereo image. Interactive educational and training class, designed in the form of cabins. Special areas house interactive exhibits that include simulators identical to those at the Yu. A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center: a transport spacecraft rendezvous and docking simulator, a virtual simulator for the International Space Station, and a search helicopter pilot simulator. And, of course, where would we be without any film and photographic materials, archival documents, personal belongings of figures in the rocket and space industry, items of numismatics, philately, philocarty and faleristics, works of fine and decorative art...

Harsh reality

While writing this article, it was nice to refresh my memory of history, but now everything is somehow not so optimistic or something - just recently we were superbisons and leaders in outer space, and now we can’t even launch a satellite into orbit... Nevertheless, we we live in a very interesting time— if previously the slightest technical advances took years and decades, now technologies are developing much more rapidly. Take the Internet for example: those times have not yet been forgotten when WAP sites could barely open on two-color phone displays, but now we can do anything on a phone (in which even pixels are not visible) from anywhere. ANYTHING. Perhaps the best conclusion to this article would be the famous speech of the American comedian Louis C. K, “Everything is great, but everyone is unhappy”:

Space exploration is all that involves our familiarity with space and everything that lies beyond the lower layers of the Earth's atmosphere. Robotic travel to Mars and other planets, sending probes beyond the solar system, exploring fast, cheap and safe ways for people to go into space and colonize other planets - all this is space exploration. By forces brave people, brilliant engineers and scientists, as well as space agencies around the world and private leading corporations, humanity will very soon begin to explore space by leaps and bounds. Our only chance to survive as a species is colonization, and the sooner we realize this (and hope it's not too late), the better it will be.

The herpes virus has reactivated in more than half the crew aboard the space shuttle and International Space Station, a study published in Frontiers in Microbiology shows. While only a small proportion developed symptoms, the rate of virus reactivation increases with the duration of spaceflight and could pose a significant health risk on missions to Mars and beyond. NASA's rapid virus detection systems and ongoing research are beginning to protect astronauts - and immunocompromised patients on Earth.