Mankind has always been intrigued by space and its phenomena. Ancient Greek philosophers named the constellations in accordance with their mythology. The medieval church believed that the Earth was the centre of the universe, later proven wrong by Galilei and Copernicus.
The Big Bang Theory, first suggested by a priest Georges Lemaitre, states that the whole universe was initially a condensed dense mass of very high temperature with highly unstable amounts of exothermic energy. This eventually led to the expansion of the universe and after sufficient cooling, the formation of atoms and other subatomic particles took place. This gave birth to stars, planets and other cosmic particles and radiations. Eventually, the gases condensed and formed a layer that we call the atmosphere, which made life possible on Earth.
Einstein’s theory of special relativity(E=mc2) is one of the most well-known theories in today’s world. It establishes the relation between space and time. Stephen Hawking stated that black holes are voids that can absorb anything in existence and that not even light could escape it. ‘A Brief History of Time’ by Stephen Hawking is regarded as one of the most important works in astronomy, also garnering a top spot in the New York Times bestseller list.
Over the decades, we have seen numerous advancements in understanding the mysteries of space. The successful launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 by the USSR made the United States very insecure. In retaliation, the US launched the Voyager 1 satellite a year later, which successfully orbited around the Earth. To say that the interests of various countries in exploring the space skyrocketed (after this Cold War between the US and USSR), would be a gross understatement. Now, we have various countries allocating funds and resources, to prove themselves pioneers of space exploration.
The International Space Station is a collaborative project by NASA(USA), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA(Japan), ESA(Europe), and CSA(Canada), launched in 1998. The facility comes under the inter-governmental mutual treaty agreement providing an environment capable of nurturing healthy relations among the countries. It houses laboratories for astronomy, astrobiology, physics, and various other fields. The station has been continuously occupied for nine years. Now, many private organizations like SpaceX and Blue Origin have joined the race.
Space has also been a major pop culture theme for entertainment. The movie ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ directed by Stanley Kubrick, is considered a major landmark in terms of CGI and space induced adventure. This was followed by the critically acclaimed Star Wars franchise which popularized the genre. Movies like ‘Interstellar’ and ‘The Martian’ took a big leap in terms of storytelling, trying to explain various intricate phenomena of space in a lucid yet vivid manner. Area 51, a highly classified US Air Force facility in Nevada, has been the milieu for various speculations regarding aliens and extra-terrestrial objects (UFOs, spaceships) and hence arousing interests in various forms of visual and written media
The buzz around space never ceases to fade and now, it’s more than ever. Each day marks a discovery in space and adds to its never-ending plethora of mysteries. We could only hope that one-day mankind would understand everything about space and utilize that knowledge in the best way possible.
