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Conquest of space
Humans started to realize their ambitions in space back in 1961, when Russian cosmonaut Yuri
Gagarin became the first human to go around the Earth on an adventure that lasted 108 minutes. He
was followed by others, among them his countrywoman Valentina Tereshkova [1963], who became the
first woman to fly to outer space on the Vostok 6:
and US astronauts like Michael Collins, Edwin Aldrich, and Neil Armstrong [1969].
who succeeded in stepping on the surface of the Moon, still the biggest achievement
of the space race.
After that, the pace slowed, and it was not until 1986 that a new important event would occur: the
launch into space of the Mir space station, which was visited by more than 100 astronauts up to
2001. After Mir, came the Intemational Space Station [ISS], which went into space in 1998. A total
of 16 countries took part in its construction.
There have also been more than 300 space missions without people. Among the most famous are the
Cassini-Huygens mission to Satum, Messenger which went to Mercury and the Perseverance mission to
Mars. The Perseverance mission is the best known because the Mars landing was broadcast live around
the world in February 2021. Samples taken so far by the Perseverance rover support the idea that
there was once some kind of water on the Red Planet.
