Space exploration gave moments of hope in a difficult year.
Shipped three countries spacecraft towards Mars in 2020. Astronauts will be launched into orbit from the United States for the first time in nearly 10 years. And robotic explorers collected stones from the moon and from one asteroid.
High expectations for 2021
Expectations are also high for 2021. Landings on Mars are expected in February and the planned launch of the James Webb Space Telescope will take place in the fall. The huge telescope takes the place of the famous Hubble Space Telescope.
Other developments are also expected. The aerospace company Boeing hopes to catch up with SpaceX in launching astronauts. And space tourism can finally get off the ground.
Scott Hubbard was the first Mars program director of the US Space Agency (NASA). He now teaches at Stanford University. He said, “2021 promises to be just as much an exploration of space place, maybe even more. “
Major projects moved forward
Although the coronavirus crisis in 2020 caused problems for all space programs, most of the very important projects went ahead anyway.
The US, China, and the United Arab Emirates launched spacecraft to Mars.
NASA’s Perseverance robotic explorer will land on Feb. 18. Perseverance will cut and gather in the dry soil samples for return to Earth.
The UAE spacecraft is that country’s first attempt to visit another planet. It will study the atmosphere of Mars.
China’s Tianwen-1 will look for signs of ancient life on the red planet.
China also conducted lunar explorations in 2020. In December, a Chinese spacecraft landed and then launched the lunar surface. It collected the first moon rocks that had returned to Earth since the 1970s.
Japan brought back pieces of the asteroid Ryugu. More asteroid samples on our way. NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft received samples from the asteroid Bennu in October. The samples are scheduled to return in 2023.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX company did a lot in 2020. In May, SpaceX became the first private company to send humans into orbit, a success previously only claimed by three powerful nations.
In November, four more astronauts rode a SpaceX Dragon to the International Space Station. Three weeks later, SpaceX launched its largest shipment to date to the space station for NASA.
Mark Kelly, who was elected as a senator for the state of Arizona, said the event was something that “Americans should be pride from.”
Until the SpaceX flights, the three-person Russian Soyuz spacecraft was the only way to get astronauts to the space station after NASA’s flights stopped.
SpaceX closed the year with a test flight of Starship, the spacecraft the company is building to transport people to the moon and Mars. The event on December 9 featured an explosion on landing. Still, Musk said he was extremely happy.
In addition, SpaceX is expanding the number of people willing to ride its Dragon spaceship. SpaceX expects to launch the first privately funded Dragon flight in a deal with Houston-based Axiom Space late next year.
Axiom’s Michael Lopez-Alegria, an ex-NASA astronaut and former president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, joins Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe. They will be accompanied by two other people who will pay to visit the space station.
“This is the real start of private space flight and will get the ball rolling multiple private missions in orbit every year, ”Lopez-Alegria said in an email.
Two other aerospace companies are still conducting test flights. They are Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic. Those companies have not yet set dates to send people on short flights to the edge of space and back.
The future of space programs in the US.
US President Donald Trump said he wants a moon landing by US astronauts by 2024. It would be the first since NASA’s Apollo program more than 50 years ago.
In December, NASA introduced 18 astronauts to train for the Moon program Artemis.
John Logsdon of George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute said the past four years “have been like that positive for the US civil space program. Logsdon added, “No … major programs have been canceled, the human reconnaissance program was given clear directions, and financing for existing programs has been increased. “
I am John Russell.
Marcia Dunn reported this story to the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.
2020 saw many successes in space exploration
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Words in this story
spacecraft – n. a vehicle used for space travel
asteroid – n. one of thousands of minor planets orbiting the sun
tourism – n. the activity of traveling to a place for pleasure
place – n. a small area of a surface that differs from other areas: a specific space or area
sample – n. a small amount of something that gives you information about the thing it was taken from
multiple – adj. multiple
mission – n. a task or job that someone has to do
pride – adj. which makes people happy
positive – adj. a good result, not bad
financing – n. available money for a cause