Space Is a Dangerous Place

Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Science and Fiction book series (SCIFICT)

Abstract

Sending human beings into outer space is a staple of science fiction. Early works such as Jules Vernes’ From the Earth to the Moon and H.G. Wells’ The First Men in the Moon used slightly realistic or purely hypothetical techniques (a huge cannon in the former and “cavorite,” a substance that can “cut off … the gravitational attraction of the Earth,” in the latter) to send explorers beyond our world. Science fiction stories in the 1930s and 1940s often depicted voyages within and far beyond our Solar System as becoming routine, analogous to the development of international air travel during those decades. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert Goddard, and other early twentieth century visionaries pioneered techniques in rocketry that led to a real Space Age, highlighted by the 1957 launch of Sputnik, the first human ventures into space starting in 1961, and the Apollo missions. To date over 500 humans have flown into space. The current record for single longest stay in space is 438 days, set by cosmonaut Valery Polyakov on Mir in the mid-1990s. Another cosmonaut, Sergei Krikalev, holds the record for the longest cumulative time in space, with multiple flights totaling 803 days

Keywords

Solar System Circadian Rhythm International Space Station Decompression Sickness Space Shuttle 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.SpringfieldUSA

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