8 Photos That Tell The History of Humans In Space
ESA Astronaut Tim Peake visits WIRED to have a look back at pivotal moments in the history of human space flight, captured in 8 unforgettable photographs. The first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, was the first to fly into the Vostok One capsule with a secret code that was hidden from the cosmonauts, only to them in case of an emergency. The launch failed to go according to plan and resulted in a higher orbit than expected, leading to the ejection of the spacecraft and the parachuting of the astronauts. The first female astronaut, Valentina Tereshkova, was also the first female in space and the first American to do a spacewalk. The United States had previously wanted to be the first nation to do such a feat, but this year saw a significant increase in risk. The most iconic moment of human space flight was captured during a photo taken by astronaut Neil Aldrin in the gold visor.
Opublikowany : 2 lata temu za pomocą Condé Nast w Science
and I'm gonna be talking about
some of the most iconic moments
in the history of human space flight for Wired.
[Speaker] Behind each of these photos,
there's a different story about humans in space.
Missions being just seconds away from failure.
[Announcer] We're breathing again, thanks a lot.
And taking crazy risks. Well, just because we can.
I guess we should start at the beginning.
The first human in space, Yuri Gagarin,
strapped into his Vostok One capsule there.
there is a code that is secret even to Yuri himself.
[Speaker] Yuri didn't have any control over the spacecraft
It was fully automated by a computer system
but only in case of an emergency.
There was so much fear in the Soviet Union about defection
that the code was hidden from the cosmonauts themselves
and they were only gonna be told about it
in the event of an emergency.
But actually several people did tell Yuri the code secretly
before he flew, so he knew what it would be.
What you may not realize is that
on the front of his helmet there,
he's got the letters CCCP to represent the Soviet Union.
It was painted on at the very last moment.
there was nothing to identify him as a Soviet cosmonaut.
So one of the engineers grabbed his helmet
and painted those letters on.
That paint is still wet right there in his capsule.
The launch didn't actually go completely according to plan.
Yuri went into a higher orbit than was expected.
They didn't bother telling him about it.
There really wasn't much he could do about it anyway.
And he didn't land in his spacecraft either.
The Vostok ejected the cosmonauts out
and they actually parachuted back down to Earth.
Yuri was greeted by a very shocked farmer,
who he asked to call Moscow.
Valentina Tereshkova, first female to fly into space.
Actually, this was part of the Space Race.
The Soviets had got wind of a woman in space program
over in the United States,
trying to see if any of the physiological differences
between women and men would create an advantage
No surprise, they didn't just pass it.
They actually performed in about the top two percent
When the Soviets got wind of this program, they thought,
Well, we're not gonna get picked at the post.
And so they went for their own selection process
as the first female in space.
[Speaker] And the women in space program,
it was just a study.
In fact, it was over 20 years
until the first American woman flew to space.
the first American to do a spacewalk.
The United States had wanted to be the first nation,
Alexei Leonov had gone outside of his spacecraft
and done the first ever spacewalk.
[Speaker] And it wasn't without risk.
Leonov's spacesuit expanded so much in the vacuum of space,
he had to depressurize his own suit to get back in.
The United States realized that their first spacewalk
better be something a little bit more impressive
than just opening the hatch and poking your head out.
Also, you may not know that on his spacewalk,
he lost a glove with the hatch open to the capsule.
It's happened several times since.
[Speaker] Like when this $100,000 toolbox floated away
from this NASA astronaut in 2008.
[Speaker] The tool bag circled Earth over eight months
and destroying itself over the Pacific Ocean.
The other thing both of them realized
is that there are no handrails at all
on the outside of these capsules.
They're floating around on umbilicals here, out in space.
And at one point,
Ed was wiping himself over the windshield of the capsule
and his crew mate inside was kind of saying,
Hey, get yourself off my spacecraft.
Possibly one of the most iconic photographs
in the history of human space flight.
If you zoom in,
then you'll actually see Neil taking that photograph
reflected in the gold visor of Buzz Aldrin.
It nearly didn't happen, of course.
Neil nearly ran outta fuel coming down to the surface.
The fuel got lower than it had ever become
in any of the simulations,
in any of the training scenarios.
Bringing the lander module down to the surface,
it was kicking up all this lunar dust.
[Tim] And he wasn't able to even see his landing site.
[Buzz] Forward drifting to the right a little.
Was the lunar landing module just gonna sink several feet
Were the astronauts gonna sink up into their knees
and not be able to actually walk anywhere at all?
Neil had the cool presence of mind to just continue on,
not worry about the fuel.
So when the landing module touched down,
the only real way they realized they're on the surface
is when the contact light came on.
[Tim] And the engines were cut.
Tranquility base here, the eagle has landed.
[Announcer] You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue,
we're breathing again, thanks a lot.
And you think, wow,
to have had such an incredible technical achievement,
but actually still to have had so many unknowns.
At some point, you have to do it. You have to be the first.
And these were the first people to have experienced that.
This photograph actually became known just as The Poster.
It adorns many bedroom walls of teenaged kids and younger,
who would just stick it up and look at that iconic image
of a human floating out there, untethered.
The feeling of exposure and vulnerability in that suit.
Imagine if one of those thrusters had just got stuck
in the on position as he was maneuvering around.
That would be it. Game over.
Bruce would be off, lost forever into the cosmos.
And you could arguably say,
Well, what was the point of that?
What was the higher purpose?
Perhaps there wasn't one.
This was just like the jet ski of the spacewalking world.
Just because we can do it,
let's go out there and do it and have fun.
Another thing you may not realize in this photograph
is he was shivering and freezing cold.
So although the poster looks like the most serene,
the most tranquil event ever,
for Bruce at the time, it was pretty hard work.
This spacewalk really just shows how far we've come,
now being able to perform eight-hour,
very complex missions outside the space station.
Space went from being a very competitive race
to a very collaborative period in low Earth orbit.
And so having been working apart during the Space Race,
called the International Space Station, as we know it today.
This next photograph is Frank Rubio.
One of the best things about space
is playing with your food and water, frankly.
And when you get a bubble of water in front of you,
it just makes you realize how different
We've gone beyond the days of just building a space station
that we're spending huge amounts of time now in space.
We're using it as a microgravity laboratory
and science that's becoming more and more valuable
by the day as we realize what you can do in weightlessness.
And looking to the future with Artemis Two not far away now,
the first crew to return to lunar orbit for over 50 years,
is a little bit of a space race starting again though,
because Russia isn't part of that partnership,
Other nations, such as India,
on the south pole of the moon.
In this new era of space exploration
as we move outside of low Earth orbit once more,
it's gonna be a very exciting five to 10 years ahead.