The idea of traveling into space is one that has gripped human curiosity since we looked up at the night sky. The fascination is what inspired Yuri Gagarin to write The Blue Marble, to depict a space station in a painting, and to become the first man to walk on the Moon, among others. This strong hold on the imagination may explain why professional astronauts and laypeople alike consent at great peril to sit in a rocket and blast off into space, as described by Tom Wolfe in The Right Stuff.
Throughout the 20th century, national and private space programs developed the means to send machines and animals, then people, into orbit above Earth and beyond, and eventually to land on celestial bodies like the Moon. These efforts also sent probes to other Solar System planets and beyond, with Voyager 1 and 2 now thought to have left the heliosphere, an outer layer of gas that surrounds the Sun.
There are now major commercial companies developing rockets and vehicles to take us into space, with an expectation that their work will significantly reduce the cost of accessing space. This will enable a whole new range of science, technology, and business activities to be undertaken in space.
A key focus is asteroid detection and monitoring, with NASA’s successful 2022 mission to deflect an asteroid demonstrating that the technology exists to protect Earth from dangerous threats. Other important work includes building facilities in space for science, medical and commercial operations including research and manufacturing, and developing the infrastructure required to establish permanent colonies on the Moon, Mars, asteroids and other worlds.