Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky stated that; Humanity will not remain on the earth forever, but in pursuit of light and space it will at first timidly penetrate beyond the limits of the atmosphere, and then conquer all the space around the sun.
Contemporaneous breakneck efforts in the procession of technology consents a man to dream of any ingenuity for future like Soviet Union who recently created a triumph by revealing their dream of migrating to moon till 2030. Russia has been highlighted as an integral part in the news pertinent to advancement in space technology for their contraptions and struggles for amelioration to subjugate the universe since 1950 when Sergei Korolev, an astute soviet aeronautical engineer who was preeminent for his distinguished air craft designs created a triumph by developing a massive, implausible and preposterous rocket R-7 that propelled Soviet space craft to the moon.
This astonishing invention made the way smoother for Russia to further augment their space craft with new advancements that appeared in the form of sputnik 1; the first satellite ever launched in space in 1957 which orbited around the earth every 96 minutes before falling back to earth. Sputnik 2 hauled Laika- a sweet tempered dog into space. After sputnik 2 Russia commenced the launching of Luna chain to moon. Luna 1 called Mechta- ‘the dream’ by Sergei was launched in space in 1959 but missed by around 37,000 miles and went into orbit between sun and moon. On 12 September 1959 Luna 2 was launched successfully and that was a grand slam for Russia. Luna 2 was spherical in shape with antennae sticking out of it and carried instruments for measuring radiation, magnetic fields and meteorites which confirmed that the moon had only a tiny radiation field.
Russia with feather in their cap then launched Luna 3 on 4th October 1959 and divulged some blurred images of darker side of moon. In 1961,Korolev went on to put the first man, Yuri Gagarin into space and in 1963; he propelled the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova into space. All these achievement were enough for Russia to stand at the top of ladder since 2014. However in January 2014, a recital spotted that 52 Russians were signed to become the first settlers on red planet- Mars. And now Russian deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin added further sensation and jubilation in their flawless progression in technology by recently giving a breathtaking statement; “We are going to the Moon forever.” A newspaper Izvestia of 8th May 2014 revealed that the plan of residing moon is a three step plan which is prepared by colossal space research institutes including Russian Academy of Sciences, the Roscosmos federal space agency and Moscow State University. In the first step a robotic craft would be sent to the Moon as early as in 2016 and by 2028, Russia would be ready to send manned missions to orbit the Earth’s satellite.
In the final stage, planned for 2030, humans would be sent to the lunar surface to set up the infrastructure for an initial colony using local resources. The program also envisages building a space- and Earth-monitoring observatory on the Moon.The price tag of the mission is uncertain, but the first stage of the program is expected to cost around 28.5 billion rubles which are about $815.8 million, while earlier estimates indicated that developing and building a piloted spaceship would add 160 billion rubles or so. This avowal of Russia spawns a stir, uproar and enormity among super powers as a continuous cold war already ensued between America and Russia since 1950 due to intensifying dedications and breakthrough of Russian space craft and some other issues which is now upsurge by the confession of Russian deputy PM. Despite all the contentions, the breathtaking advancement of Russia should be applause and one should cross our fingers to wait and watch whether Russia will be lucrative in creating a moon base with full-time residents by mid-century or not!!!!
Author:
Faiza Latif
