Subject Matter Expert:
Chris Giersch and Jennifer Rochlis
“Are we there yet?” is a common question asked not only
by restless children but also by explorers seeking new worlds.
We are curious creatures who need to explore.
Imagine how different countries around the world would be
if early explorers had not visited them. While the desire
to explore may be “part of human nature,” early explorers
were also motivated by greed, government, and religion.
Often explorers took more than they deserved, claiming land
and possessions in the names of their countries and their
rulers. Portugal, Spain, France, and England competed to
increase their wealth and power, expanding their empires
around the world. Their exploration had little to do with
curiosity or “satisfying the human spirit.”
Yet, along the way, new discoveries expanded man’s view
of the world. Portugal’s Vasco da Gama succeeded in reaching
India and returned to Portugal with jewels and spices. Ferdinand
Magellan, another Portuguese explorer, was the first to circumnavigate the
globe.
In the name of Spain, the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus
landed in the Bahamas in
1492. He never really set foot in America.
Looking for the “Fountain of Youth” in 1513, the Spanish
explorer, Juan Ponce de Leon, was the first European to reach
Florida.
Years later, in 1528, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca landed
on the west coast of Florida, claiming that land for Spain.
Over the next six years, his travels took him across what
is now Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
Others followed. The first English colonists arrived in
Virginia on April 26, 1607. These same colonists settled
at what is now Jamestown.
What do these early explorers have in common with more modern
explorers? Drive, courage, and the willingness to take risks
are at the heart of any exploration.
While early exploration was ground level, via railroad,
later exploration looked to the skies. Aviation began with
the Wright Brothers first flight in 1902, and evolved 60
years later into Space exploration beginning with Russia’s
cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. On April 12, 1961. Gagarin was the
first human to be launched into space. Alan Shepard followed
with the American’s first launch into space less than a month
later on May 5, 1961, in the Freedom 7 spacecraft. Then,
on February 20, 1962, American astronaut John Glenn orbited
Earth.
Later that year, on September 12, 1962, President John F.
Kennedy challenged the United States to be the first country
to land a man on the moon. He said, “We set sail on this
new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained. But
why, some say, the moon? We choose to go to the moon
in this decade and do the other things, not because they
are easy, but because they are hard.”
The United States met this challenge. Neil Armstrong, the
first human to step on the moon, took his historic walk on
July 20, 1969 along with fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Following
this act of courage, five more Apollo missions landed ten
more Americans on the moon, for a total of 12 Americans on
the moon.
Since that time, NASA explorers have sent unpiloted probes throughout
the solar system, created space stations, and developed re-usable
piloted space shuttles.
NASA continues to set high goals and reach for new territories.
NASA has stated that “Spaceflight is a continuation of the
ancient human imperative to explore, discover, and understand.”
Exploration will continue, using both robots and humans to
explore and discover new worlds. Our future exploration of
space will help us build a stronger understanding of
“the Earth and other planets, bringing the lessons of our
study of Earth to the exploration of the solar system, and
ensuring that the discoveries made here will enhance our
work there.”
Returning to the moon, studying and traveling to Mars,
and reaching places beyond are our new goals and challenges
for the Vision for Exploration.
Are we there yet? We’re getting closer. |
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