Man has carried out many space missions within and beyond the earth’s orbit.
Significant space missions are as follows:
(1) Space missions within the earth’s orbit: Man has so far sent many artificial satellites of various types in the earth’s orbit. These satellites have made the life of man simpler. Besides, it has also helped us in resource management, communication, disaster management, etc.
(2) Moon missions : Moon is the natural satellite , of the earth and it is the nearest celestial body to us. Naturally, our initial space missions were directed to the moon. As of now, only Russia, USA, European Union, China, Japan and India have successfully undertaken . moon missions. Russia executed 15 moon missions between 1959 and 1976. Of these, last 4 missions brought the stone samples from the moon for study and analysis. However all these missions were unmanned. USA executed moon missions between 1962 and 1972. Some of these missions were unmanned.
However, the historic moon mission took place on 20th July, 1969, when American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to step on the moon. India has undertaken the moon mission. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched Chandrayaan-I and placed it in orbit of the moon. It sent useful information to the earth for about a year. The most important discovery made during the mission was the presence of water on moon’s surface. India was the first country to discover this.
(3) Mars mission: The second nearest celestial object to the earth is Mars and many nations sent spacecraft towards it. But only few of them have been successful. However, the performance of Mangalyaan, the Indian spacecraft sent by ISRO towards Mars, was remarkable. Mangalyaan was launched in November 2013 and was placed in the orbit of Mars successfully in September 2014. It has obtained useful information about the surface and atmosphere of Mars.
(4) Space missions to other planets: Other than moon and Mars missions, many other space missions were undertaken for studying other planets. Some spacecraft orbited the planets, some landed on some planets, and some just observed the planets, passed near them and went further to study other celestial bodies. Some spacecraft were sent specifically to study asteroids and comets. Some spacecraft’s have brought dust and stone samples from asteroids for the study.
All these space missions are very useful in getting information and helping us in clarifying our concepts about the origin of the earth and the Solar system.
