Space exploration, a cornerstone of modern science and technology, provides numerous benefits on a technological, economic, and societal level. These include gaining novel and enriched scientific knowledge, improving human health, and delivering economic benefits like job creation and new business opportunities.
Since the mid-20th century, probes and human missions have traversed our Moon, visited the outer planets of the Solar System, discovered extrasolar planets, and even left the heliosphere (the bubble of charged particles surrounding the Sun). The most far-flung instruments on record – the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft – have traveled more than 100 times the Earth-Sun distance.
During the Cold War, both the US and Soviet Union wanted to prove their military prowess by sending satellites and astronauts into space. Eventually, the space race ended as both powers realized they could use their technologies for more peaceful purposes and focused on building up their human space programs. Humans have not left Earth orbit in decades, with the focus on constructing and operating space stations for research and testing technologies to make future journeys cost-effective and accessible.
Today, both the US and China are ramping up their space efforts. China hopes to land astronauts on Mars by 2031, while NASA aims for some time in the 2030s. Both nations, along with a handful of private companies, are also actively working towards developing their rockets and spacecraft to achieve this goal. In addition, 18 national space agencies have collaborated to create the International Space Station – with 149 astronauts from the US, 47 from Russia, nine from Europe, eight from Japan, and others from other countries.
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