Space travel is one of the great wounder of our age. There was a time when man could not even think of landing on the moon. But the achievement of science from appolo 12 to appolo 17(Dec.1972) have put the works to unbelievable surprise.
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After exploring the earth's bossom and diving deep into the ocean, man has turned his hand to the skies. His beginnings were very humble. Starting from gliders and balloons, now he has successfully launched sputniks and cosmic rockets on the surface of the moon. It was a day of great achievement when on July 21,1969, Neil A. Armstrong and E.Eldron, the pilot of appolo 12,set their feet on the moon for the first time. No doubt they were in their space suits and walked on the surface of the moon only for a few minutes, but this showed that man had conquered space.
The race for the conquest of space started in 1957 when the Russians launched their first rocket, called the satellite' ,into space. This satellite was fired into space by a three stage rocket which gave it a velocity of about 800,000 meters a second. This satellite made hundreds of circles a second.this satellite made hundreds of circle round the Earth and finally exploded like a shouting star. The second Sputnik, which was a bit bigger than the first, carried a dog, named Laika, into space. this proved that it was quite possible to send living creatures into space. This satellite too exploded after entering the upper atmosphere. The third Sputnik was launched on may 15, 1958. It was fitted with solar batteries and radio transmitters. But this Sputnik too meet the same fate and soon destroyed.
Side by side with the Russians, the Americans too made experiment in space travel. First of all they launched small capsules into space. These were numbered as appolo one, two', three etc. The tenth space explorer was piloted by major Gordeon Cooper. It went round the Earth 34 times and then landed safely. Then appolo achieved a greater success. it reached quite near the moon and took several photographer of it's surface. Then appolo 12 was sent into space in July 1969. It had three men on board. This rocket reached within a few miles distance from the moon and then two men of the crew, Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Actually landed on the surface of the moon. They walked on the moon and picked up some stones which they Brought back to the Earth. The whole show was transmitted to the Earth with the help of powerful cosmic camera. This was a day of great rejoicing for mankind. man had conquered space within the next three years five more rockets we're launched and they worked quite success fully. The moon, which had always been a topic of fairy tales has at last been conquered. In this race the Americans have left the Russians behind. Still both the blocs are busy to explore the secrets of the moon, and the day is not far when the moon will become a pleasure sport for tourist's from the earth.
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Like all other achievemnets of science, space travel too is not at pure blessing. In the present day world, when a mad race for armament in on, it is feared that even the information regarding the moon, star and other heavenly bodies will be used for war purpose. This is very unfortunate. Let us pray that man may learn to live in peace, be it is on this Earth or in space.