The New Age of Discovery

By an Awake! staff writer

HAVE you ever watched a space-​shuttle launch on TV? Did you wonder just how big those rockets are? And how much room do the astronauts have in the space shuttle itself? I had an opportunity to see for myself when I visited Spaceport USA at Cape Canaveral, also known as the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, U.S.A.

Having watched all kinds of space liftoffs on TV and thrilled at the first Apollo flight to the moon in 1969, it was quite an experience to find myself at the very heart of this activity, just an hour’s drive east of Orlando. As we drove into the parking lot, I saw in the distance a display of rockets that had been used in the past to send men and instruments into space. And there, parked on the tarmac next to the Rocket Garden, was a full-​scale replica of the shuttle orbiters used in earth-​orbit operations. It is called Ambassador, and although only a copy, it was impressive to see, to visit, and to photograph. It is 56 feet [17 m] high at the tail and 122 feet [37 m] long, with a wingspan of 78 feet [24 m].

It was Friday, November 22, last year, and I was anxious to get near a launching pad, especially the one where the shuttle Atlantis was waiting to be launched on Sunday, November 24. There are several such pads, but they are a few miles away from the exhibition area. So I took the official bus tour of the main rocket building and launching installations.

Our first stop was at the Flight Crew Training Building, where we saw identical copies of the service and lunar modules that had been used on that historic trip to the moon in 1969. The lunar module was a really ugly contraption​—it had none of the smooth lines and shape of the typical space vehicle. At first sight it appeared more like a conglomeration of cubes and pyramids with a set of spidery legs attached. Yet, its twin had served to land two men on the moon.

In July 1971, Apollo 15 landed on the moon, and astronauts Scott and Irwin unloaded the lunar rover, or moon buggy. At $15 million, that was probably the most expensive jeep ever built. And if you want to drive it, all you have to do is go to the moon​—it was left up there along with the landing stage of the lunar module! But don’t forget to take fresh batteries with you. The jeep’s are long ago exhausted.

My next stop on the tour was the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building). You have to get used to acronyms at the space center​—they are used for everything. Chris, a former engineer on the Apollo project whom I met later, told me: “I was transferred to another section, and for months I could not understand many things that were being said because their acronyms were different from mine!” What is so special about the VAB? At over 520 feet [160 m] high (equivalent to a 52-​story skyscraper) and 518 feet wide [158 m] and 716 feet [218 m] long, it is possibly the largest building in volume, or cubic capacity, in the world. It covers an area of eight acres [3 ha]. It has to be so large because this is where the launch vehicles are assembled before being trundled out on their slow, laborious journey to the launching pad. But more about that later.

We were told that the VAB is so large that four Saturn V rockets could be assembled there simultaneously. And these were 365 feet [111 m] tall, designed to carry the Apollo spacecraft. The book The Illustrated History of NASA explains: “The total lift-​off weight was a fantastic 3200 tons (2900 tonnes). Yet Saturn V’s engines, developing nearly 3800 tons (3500 tonnes) of thrust, could lift the prodigious load with ease.”

As I looked up at the top of this vast building, I spotted buzzards circling around, taking advantage of the updrafts over the roof. It also reminded me that the space center is located in the middle of an extensive national wildlife refuge that harbors dozens of bird, animal, and reptile species. On our bus journey, we passed a huge eagle’s nest, seven feet deep [2 m], perched high in a tree. It somehow seemed appropriate that eagles should be flying where man has made some of his greatest achievements in space flight.

Our next stop was going to be an observation area from which we would be able to see a couple of launching pads at a distance. However, a big question still remained. How do they transport those huge rockets to the launching pads three and a half miles [5.5 km] away? They use the biggest tractors I have ever seen! They are called crawler transporters and are capable of carrying 14.5 million pounds [6.6 million kg]. These transporters are each half the size of a soccer field and weigh in at six million pounds [2.7 million kg]. But don’t expect any speed records from these monsters. Loaded, they have a maximum speed of one mile per hour [1.6 km/​hr]; unloaded, two miles per hour [3.2 km/​hr]! The platform is carried on four huge two-​track tractors, one at each corner. Each track has 57 cleats; each cleat weighs one ton.

Now imagine the special highway that had to be constructed to each launching pad, capable of taking the enormous weight of the mobile platform and the rocket and spacecraft.

What about the shuttle’s return journey to earth? The orbiter needs somewhere to land​—and here at Cape Canaveral, that “somewhere” is no ordinary airport landing strip, being about twice the length and width of an average airport runway. It is 15,000 feet long [4,600 m], with 1,000 feet [300 m] of overlap at each end. If conditions are not right for landing, then the shuttle is diverted to Edwards Air Base out in the California desert, over 2,000 miles [3,200 km] to the west.

The immensity of the whole project was overwhelming. And it brought questions to mind. What has man accomplished in space exploration? What have been the benefits? And what are the prospects for interplanetary flight? Will man ever land on Mars?

Space Exploration​—How Far Has Man Gone?

ON APRIL 12, 1961, a new Columbus entered the annals of history. Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, Russian cosmonaut, made man’s first voyage into space in the space capsule Vostok 1. His journey lasted 108 minutes and took him 25,400 miles [40,900 km] around the earth in one orbit. He was the winner of the first heat in the great space race between the former Soviet Union and the United States.

U.S.News & World Report stated: “The truth is that . . . America was propelled into space by the imperative to beat the Russians.” President John F. Kennedy was set to trying to close the gap between the Soviet and the American space accomplishments. John Logsdon, director of the Center for International Science and Technology Policy, wrote in Blueprint for Space: “Sorenson [Kennedy’s special counsel] says Kennedy’s attitude was influenced by the fact [that] ‘the Soviets had gained tremendous worldwide prestige from the Gagarin flight at the same time we had suffered a loss of prestige from the Bay of Pigs.a It pointed up the fact that prestige was a real, and not simply public relations, factor in world affairs.’”

President Kennedy determined that cost what it may the United States had to do something spectacular to overtake the Soviets. He asked: “Do we have a chance of beating the Soviets by putting a laboratory in space, or by a trip around the moon, or by a rocket to land on the moon, or by a rocket to go to the moon and back with a man? Is there any other space program which promises dramatic results in which we could win?” At last U.S. scientists had a political motivator to back their ambitions. But they were going to have to wait for their success.

The Russians continued their string of successes in 1963 when Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova became the first woman to orbit the earth, not once, but 48 times! NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) faced the challenge of catching up in the race for international space prestige. So, what did they finally accomplish?

Apollo and the Moon

NASA scientists had been studying the possibility of a lunar landing since 1959. They requested permission to build a spacecraft that would be called Apollo. However, “President Eisenhower refused to approve this request.” Why this negative attitude? The cost, from $34 billion to $46 billion, “would not produce enough scientific knowledge to justify the investment. . . . Eisenhower told NASA that he would not approve any project aimed at a lunar landing.” (Blueprint for Space) The scientists’ only hope was in the new president, John F. Kennedy.

He set the U.S. scientists the goal of landing a man on the moon before the end of the decade​—and before the Russians! Wendell Marley, who was an electrical engineer working on the Apollo guidance and navigation system, told Awake!: “There was definitely a sense of rivalry with the U.S.S.R., and this was also a motivating force among many of the engineers I worked with. We were proud to do our part in landing a man on the moon before Russia did. Many of us even worked overtime without extra pay in order to stay on schedule.”

The outcome of all that effort is now history​—Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin left the first human footprints on lunar soil in July 1969. This tremendous achievement was not without a price. On January 27, 1967, three astronauts lost their lives in an on-​board fire in the command capsule during a preflight test. Less than three months later, Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died while attempting to return after 18 orbits of the earth. Yet, for hundreds of years, that has often been the price that men and women have paid for exploration. They have died in their quest for knowledge and glory.

Now, apart from moon travel, what other progress has been made in space?

Searching the Planets

NASA has sent many satellites out into space, and they have paid off handsomely in increased knowledge of the universe. That is one of the benefits that scientists point to in order to justify the enormous expense of manned flights and unmanned space probes. March 1992 saw the 20th anniversary of one of the great success stories of space exploration​—the launching of the first space probe to go beyond the solar system. Pioneer 10, launched in 1972, made up for a string of early failures among its predecessors, stretching back to 1958. The probe’s active life was expected to be about three years. Instead of that, thanks to its nuclear power source, it is still sending back information to the earth. Nicholas Booth, writing in New Scientist, says that “NASA officials expect to be able to track the craft until the turn of the century. It could be described as the most successful interplanetary mission ever.” Why has Pioneer 10 been so special?

It was programmed to head for our largest planetary neighbor, Jupiter, before exiting the solar system. This involved a journey of some 484 million miles [779 million km] that took nearly two years. It reached Jupiter in December 1973. On the way it passed Mars and went through an asteroid belt beyond Mars. It recorded 55 impacts from dust particles. However, the spacecraft escaped without damage. Other instruments measured radiation and magnetic fields around Jupiter.

Then Pioneer 11 was launched, and after passing Jupiter it went on to Saturn. Building on the foundation of these Pioneer ventures, NASA followed up with the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft. These, in Nicholas Booth’s words, have sent back “a deluge of information about the Jovian system that eclipsed the results of the Pioneer missions.” How do these probes get their information back to the earth?

There is a tracking system called the Deep Space Network, consisting of radio dishes, of 210 feet [64 m] diameter, which take turns picking up the signals as the earth rotates. These dishes are located in Spain, Australia, and the United States. They have been the key to accurate reception of spacecraft radio signals.

Is There Life on Mars?

Space exploration will apparently continue to be driven by one intriguing question that has stirred man’s curiosity for centuries: Does intelligent life exist anywhere out there in the vast universe? For a long time astronomers and writers speculated as to whether there was life on the red planet Mars. What have recent spaceflights proved in that respect?

The series of Mariner space probes in the 1960’s and 1970’s sent back pictures of Mars. Then, in 1976, the Viking 1 and 2 landers touched down on Mars and, incredibly, sent back information on the rock and soil. How was it obtained? By the use of an automated chemical and biological laboratory on the landing craft. Soil was picked up by a robotic arm, brought into the craft, and analyzed by the robotic laboratory. Was there any life there or any hope of it? What did the photos and analyses reveal?

Space science writer Bruce Murray explains: “No bushes, no grasses, no footprints or other indications of life relieved the barrenness of this geologically fascinating terrain. . . . Despite the most careful searching with soil samples . . . , not a single organic molecule was detected . . . Mars’ soil is far more sterile than any environment on Earth. . . . Mars very probably has been lifeless for at least the last several billion years.”

Murray drew a conclusion from all the evidence coming back from planetary exploration: “We are indeed alone in this Solar System. Earth, exhibiting the only watery surface, is the oasis of life. We do not have distant microbial cousins on Mars or anywhere else plausibly in this Solar System.”

What Does Venus Look Like?

Venus, although about the same size as Earth, is a forbidding planet for humans. Astronomer Carl Sagan calls it “a thoroughly nasty place.” Its upper clouds contain sulfuric acid, and its atmosphere is mainly carbon dioxide. The atmospheric pressure at the surface is 90 times that of Earth; that is equivalent to the weight of water over half a mile [1 km] deep.

In what other ways does Venus differ from Earth? Carl Sagan, in his book Cosmos, states that Venus turns “backwards, in the opposite direction from all other planets in the inner solar system. As a result, the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east, taking 118 Earth days from sunrise to sunrise.” Surface temperatures are about 900 degrees Fahrenheit [480° C], or, as Sagan says, “hotter than the hottest household oven.” Since 1962, Venus has been explored by a variety of Mariner and Pioneer-​Venus probes as well as by numerous Soviet Venera craft.

For mapping, however, the best results have come from the space probe Magellan, the Venus radar mapper managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It was launched from the space shuttle Atlantis May 4, 1989. This remarkable craft, Magellan, took 15 months to reach Venus, where it now orbits the planet every three hours and 15 minutes as it takes its radar images and transmits them back to earth. Stuart J. Goldman, writing in Sky & Telescope, says: “Calling the product of the Magellan spacecraft’s mission phenomenal is making a gross understatement. . . . This robotic surveyor mapped 84 percent of an entire planet to a resolution of a football stadium during its first 8 months in orbit. . . . The quantity of data Magellan has beamed back to eager scientists has been unprecedented. By the beginning of 1992 the spacecraft had sent 2.8 trillion bits of information. This is three times the imaging data from all previous planetary spacecraft combined.”

Here is a case where the combination of a manned shuttle and a robot has produced incredible results. The benefit? Greater knowledge of our solar system. And all of this at a relatively low cost, since the Magellan has been to some extent a spare-​parts project, using many leftovers from the Voyager, Galileo, and Mariner probes.

NASA and the Spy Satellites

The search for scientific knowledge has not been the only motive for space exploration. Another driving force has been the desire to achieve a military advantage over any potential enemy. Over the years, the space programs have been used by both the United States and the former Soviet Union as a vehicle to expand their spying capacity. Bruce Murray says in his book Journey Into Space: “Earth orbit was from the beginning an arena for reconnaissance and other military activities, a domain of deadly serious strategic rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union.”

Joseph J. Trento reports in his book Prescription for Disaster that “in 1971 the CIA and Air Force began designing the Keyhole or KH series of spy satellites. On December 19, 1976, the first Keyhole was launched.” These photographic satellites could stay in orbit for two years and send their information back to the earth by digital transmission. How effective were they? Trento continues: “Their resolution was so superior that license plate numbers on parked cars could be clearly read. Further, the satellites were used to photograph Soviet spacecraft in orbit and strategic bombers in flight.”

The Complicated Shuttles

In recent years the world has thrilled to see the manned shuttle orbiters launched into space. Have you ever thought about the complexity of the whole operation? Of how many things could go wrong and lead to disaster? For example, engineers have struggled with such problems as how to keep the shuttle engines cool at blast-​off to prevent them from melting from their own heat. “During the first few years of testing, one engine after another melted down and exploded” writes Trento. Then, there is the need to ignite the two solid-​fuel booster rockets absolutely simultaneously so that the whole apparatus does not cartwheel to destruction. These factors certainly helped to increase the costs.

The first successful launch came on April 12, 1981. As the two-​man crew of John Young and Robert Crippen sat strapped into their seats, each of the three shuttle engines produced a thrust of 375,000 pounds [170,000 kg]. According to Trento, some of the scientists wondered: “Would this be victory or would the dream cartwheel into the Florida swamps? If the solids did not ignite within a second of each other there would be conflagration on pad 39A. . . . At zero the solids fired. White steam filled the horizon and the hold-​down bolts broke loose. The crew could hear the roar. They felt the swing of the vehicle and the surge of energy.” They were successful. “For the first time in U.S. history, Americans had climbed aboard an unproven rocket system and flown it. . . . The most sophisticated vehicle ever built worked.” A new breed of Columbuses was born. But not without dangers​—and not without a price. The Challenger disaster of 1986 that resulted in the loss of seven astronauts is testimony to that fact.

On that first flight, color photographs showed that heat resistant tiles, vital for reentry at temperatures of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit [1,100° C], were missing from the bottom of the orbiter. The scientists needed to take a closer look to assess the damage. No earth-​based cameras were powerful enough to give a clear picture of Columbia’s damaged belly. So, what was the solution? The KH-11 spy satellite was out there in orbit above the shuttle. It was decided to turn the orbiter upside down in relation to the earth so that its belly would face the satellite. The results sent back to earth assured the NASA people that no large areas of tile were missing. The mission was not in jeopardy.

Shuttle Program​—For War or for Peace?

The history of NASA is one of constant clashes between those who saw the agency as a means of peaceful exploration of space and those who saw it mainly as an opportunity to get the drop on the Soviets in the Cold War. In 1982 this conflict of interests was summarized by Harold C. Hollenbeck, member of the House of Representatives, when he said to the House Science and Technology Committee: “The tragedy is the American people are not aware of the politicizing and militarizing of the civilian space agency. . . . It was a civilian-​run team that put us on the moon . . . I, for one, do not want a gold-​plated space program that is part of some Star Wars Pentagon. . . . I can only hope the next generation of Americans will not look back upon those of us here today as the leaders who sat in silence as America turned a noble endeavor into an interstellar war machine.”

He continued with a remark that summed up the mess that man was making of his future: “We went into space as a new frontier and now we drag the hate and the bitterness of earth into the heavens as if it is the right of man to make war everyplace.” Big business and political and military interests were trying to take over NASA. Billions of dollars and thousands of jobs (and votes) were tied up in its future.

A logical question now is, What have been some of the benefits for mankind of space exploration, and what does the future hold?

[Footnote]

[Pictures on page 8, 9]

1. The lunar rover vehicle from Apollo

2. Lunar module with astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., (July 20, 1969)

3. Vehicle Assembly Building, possibly the largest single construction in the world

4. Shuttle on the transporter on the way to the launch pad

5. Satellite about to be launched

6. “Challenger” shuttle with robotic arm visible

7. First woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova

8. First man in space, Yuri A. Gagarin

9. Robot arms gathering samples on Mars

[Credit Lines]

Photos 1-6 NASA photo; 7, 8 Tass/​Sovfoto; 9 Photo NASA/​JPL

Space Exploration​—What Does the Future Hold?

WITH the collapse of the Soviet Communist empire, most of the competition has gone out of the space race. Some scientists are now without their original motivation​—someone to beat. Instead of competing, Russian and American space scientists are talking of cooperating, of pooling their knowledge and skill. But there are still aims to achieve and questions to answer. One question many ask is, What are the benefits for mankind from all this tremendous effort and expense to explore outer space?

A NASA publication says that during the span of the last three decades, “more than 300 launches [of unmanned craft] were conducted for programs ranging from solar system exploration to improved weather forecasting, global communications and Earth resources studies.” Have the results justified the vast amounts of money poured into these programs? NASA asserts that they “have more than repaid the nation’s investment in time, money and technical talent.” NASA further justifies the expense by saying: “About 130,000 Americans are employed because of the space program conducting research to improve fire-​resistant fabrics and paint, smaller and longer lasting radios and TVs, tougher plastics, stronger adhesives, electronic monitoring systems for hospital patients, improved computer technology, as well as other areas of research.”

Another peripheral benefit of the space program is the more detailed mapping of the earth’s surface, and even below the earth’s surface. The second shuttle flight included an experiment “using a relatively primitive optical recorder.” It “was supposed to be a simple geological survey using ground-​imaging radar.” (Prescription for Disaster, by J. J. Trento) But there was an unexpected payoff. “When the ship returned and the images . . . were processed, the roads and streets of an ancient city buried by the sands of the Sahara were revealed. A lost civilization was discovered.” Moreover, there is another benefit that affects all of us.

What Will the Weather Be?

The daily weather forecast, with maps and visual aids, is something most people with a TV now take for granted. Yet, how it changes our ability to plan for each day! Usually, if there is going to be a storm or it is going to rain or snow, you will know hours ahead of time​—thanks to the weather satellites out there in earth orbit.

For the last 30 years, meteorological satellites have been transmitting information on the earth’s weather. A NASA publication states: “These satellites not only make it possible to understand our environment better, they also help to protect us from its dangers.” It notes further that in 1969 a hurricane struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast, causing property damage worth $1.4 billion. “Yet, thanks to weather satellite forecast, only 256 people lost their lives, and most of these could have been spared if they had heeded the early warnings to evacuate the area.” Surely, these benefits could be applied to other parts of the earth that regularly suffer from the deadly effects of monsoons and storms.

Space scientists are not just interested in spin-​off benefits for earth’s inhabitants. Their goals go much further. So, what does the future hold for space exploration?

The Space Station Challenge

What many space scientists see as a vital need is a genuine, functioning space station. NASA calculates that $30 billion will be needed through the year 2000 for the space station Freedom that is being built. Since the station has been planned for some years, $9 billion has already been spent, according to a NASA source. But how can the experts get their space station into orbit? It is calculated that the U.S. shuttle would have to make at least 17 manned flights to get Freedom out there piece by piece. That amounts to a very expensive and time-​consuming operation. What could be a solution?

Some have suggested that the Russians and the Americans join forces and use the powerful Russian Energia rockets to get Freedom out there. The Energia, described by New York Times writer Serge Schmemann as “a 20 story flying skyscraper,” could help speed up the U.S. space station project. The Russians need U.S. dollars, and here would be their opportunity for some smart capitalism. U.S.News & World Report stated: “Six unmanned Energias could put up the entire space station, cheaply and without risking human life.”

Of course, the United States and the Russian Federation are not the only nations involved in space exploration. Among other initiatives, the European Space Agency, through the French Arianespace company, produces expendable rockets for commercial satellite launchings. Japan is also reaching for the stars, and “by the turn of this century, Japan plans to become the first Asian nation to establish a permanent human presence in space,” according to recent information published in Asiaweek. The first official Japanese astronaut, Mamoru Mohri, is scheduled for a seven-​day mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 1992. The same report says that “the mission is an important prelude to Japan’s plans to contribute to the [U.S.] Freedom space station.” This project will also have the cooperation of European and Canadian space scientists.

Populating Planets

Another ambition also fires the imagination of many​—the desire to populate and exploit other planets. George Henry Elias, in his book Breakout Into Space​—Mission for a Generation, writes: “The construction of an interplanetary civilization is essential to the survival of our species. . . . We humans now occupy an entire planet, and it is time for us to move on to a larger habitat. An empty solar system awaits us.” His immediate sights are on the planet Mars.

One person who definitely thinks man should go to Mars is Michael Collins, former astronaut who piloted Gemini 10 in 1966 and also piloted the command module of Apollo 11, which took man to the moon. In his book Mission to Mars, he says: “Mars seems friendly, accessible, even habitable.”

Bruce Murray, longtime manager of Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, strongly advocates a joint United States-​Russian venture to Mars. As a cofounder of the Planetary Society, he has recently pushed the “To Mars . . . Together” initiative. He says: “Mars is the planet of the future. It will constitute a playing field for the adventuresome members of future generations.”

Marshall Brement, former U.S. ambassador to Iceland, writes: “The two countries can teach each other much in this field [of space]. The Soviet manned space program is second to none; Soviet cosmonauts hold all the records for time in orbit. . . . Commitments by both nations to establish together a station on the moon, to circumnavigate Venus, and to land on Mars could have great scientific value.”

The Planetary Society, which includes as a founder Cornell University astronomer Carl Sagan, published “The Mars Declaration,” which stated: “Mars is the world next door, the nearest planet on which human explorers could safely land. . . . Mars is a storehouse of scientific information​—important in its own right but also for the light it may cast on the origins of life and on safeguarding the environment of the Earth.” Scientists are intrigued by the mystery of the origin of life. The Bible’s simple answer does not satisfy them: “You are worthy, Jehovah, even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.”​—Revelation 4:11; Romans 3:3, 4.

Problems to Be Faced

However, Murray, along with other scientists, recognizes some of the problems of such long-​distance interplanetary flights. For example, astro/​cosmonauts would take about a year of interplanetary flight to get to Mars. Thus, a round-​trip would take at least two years, without allowing for time spent on Mars. The effects of weightlessness are not completely understood. A NASA publication states: “Among these are the leaching of certain minerals from bones; atrophy of muscles when not exercised; and space adaptation syndrome, a form of motion sickness found only in spaceflight.”

So far, no human has experienced weightlessness for such a long period. However, Russian cosmonauts are getting there. On March 25, 1992, after ten months in space in the Russian space station MIR, 33-​year-​old Sergei Krikalev returned to earth. He was a little groggy when lifted from the return capsule, but he had shown that man can survive long periods of weightlessness. And weightlessness is not the only problem that astro/​cosmonauts have to face, as the Russians have discovered.

When you put a group of people into a confined space for any length of time, you will eventually have personality and psychological problems. The Time-​Life book Outbound, in the series Voyage Through the Universe, states: “Irritability levels tend to rise with every week of a mission. During the [Soviet] Salyut missions, ground controllers noticed that cosmonauts grew increasingly testy at what they deemed stupid questions. . . . During the extended 1977 mission of Grechko and Romanenko, ground controllers also established a ‘psychological support group’ to monitor the cosmonauts’ mental health.” Grechko said: “Competition within a crew is one of the most harmful things, especially if each starts trying to prove that he is the best.” He added that in outer space, “you have no psychological outlets. It is much more dangerous there.”

Thus, any long-​term interplanetary travel is going to be a delicate balancing act, considering all the scientific, mechanical, and psychological factors that are involved. Putting up with one another is not easy for people here on earth; how much more difficult in the confines of a spacecraft.​—Compare Colossians 3:12-14.

Will Man Ever Reach the Planets?

The famous American Star Trek films have whetted the appetite of millions for space travel. What are the future prospects for manned exploration of other planets? There are two perspectives to be taken into account​—the human and the divine. After all, the Bible says that Jehovah is “the Maker of heaven and earth. As regards the heavens, to Jehovah the heavens belong, but the earth he has given to the sons of men.”​—Psalm 115:15, 16; Genesis 1:1.

We have already seen that many scientists are optimistic about mankind’s ability to reach Mars and settle on it. Human curiosity and a yearning for knowledge will no doubt continue to impel men and women to expand the frontiers of discovery. One of the purposes of the Hubble Space Telescope, according to a NASA fact sheet, is to “search for other worlds, other galaxies and the very origins of the universe itself.” NASA also states: “The outlook for space activities in the 21st century is exciting and challenging. We can envision such important achievements as industries operating in orbit, Moon bases, and manned expeditions to Mars. Now that the space frontier has been crossed, there is no turning back.”

What can be said from a Biblical viewpoint? True, man was told by God to ‘multiply and fill the earth.’ (Genesis 1:28) At the same time, he was given intelligence and an insatiable desire to know more about his context, including the biosphere, the stratosphere, and beyond. That context includes our tiny solar system and the stars beyond. Thus, King David was inspired to write some three thousand years ago: “When I see your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have prepared, what is mortal man that you keep him in mind, and the son of earthling man that you take care of him?”​—Psalm 8:3, 4.

The Hubble telescope recently transmitted an image of the giant galaxy M87. It was described as a blob of light that consists of two trillion stars! Can you imagine that figure? How far away is M87? Fifty-​two million light-​years from earth​—“relatively close on the intergalactic distance scale!” Let’s face it, man and the earth are so infinitesimal compared to the unimaginable vastness of universal space! What Jehovah is doing and will do in all that endless space is beyond our present comprehension. Regardless of man’s ambitions for outer space, an issue has been raised on our planet that must first be settled by God’s intervention.​—Revelation 16:14-16.

Issue to Be Settled

The issue is the choice between rule by God and rule by Satan. That is why Jehovah’s Witnesses are proclaiming worldwide that God must soon take action to cleanse the earth of wickedness, corruption, murder, violence, and war.​—Mark 13:10; 2 Corinthians 4:4.

Astronauts who have peered down upon our earth from hundreds of miles out in space have marveled at the beauty of this planetary jewel. Viewed from high up, the earth shows no political boundaries to divide and separate. It is just one beautiful, global home for the human family. Yet, here we have a world full of greed, envy, lies, exploitation, injustice, terror, fear, crime, and violence. What do mankind need to bring them to their senses?

The Bible shows that Jehovah God, earth’s Maker and Landlord, will soon take action against this planet’s unruly and unrulable tenants. Only the truly meek will be left to inherit the earth. Then only will we get to see what further purposes God has in mind for an obedient human family.​—Psalm 37:11, 29; Revelation 11:18; 16:14-16.

[Box on page 14]

Satellite Rescue

NASA pulled off a coup in May of this year when three astronauts from the space shuttle Endeavor manhandled a wayward 9,000-​pound [4,080 kg] communications satellite during a space walk. They brought it to the cargo bay where a new booster rocket was attached. The satellite was then fired to a high orbit before being brought down to its working position 22,300 miles [35,900 km] above the earth.

[Pictures on page 15]

1. Artist’s rendering of the projected “Freedom” space station;

2. Weightlessness is a problem faced by interplanetary travelers;

3. Earth seen from the moon;

4. Venus;

5. Mars

[Credit Line]

Photos 1-4, NASA photo; 5 Photo NASA/​JPL