Russian Space Exploration Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Russian Space Exploration - Research Proposal Example Economic difficulties have caused problems for Russian space exploration efforts but commercialization has met with success and the space program still captures the imagination of the vast majority of the people of Russia. This essay presents a discussion about Russian space exploration efforts and questions if humanity can join in its efforts for the conquest of space to make the best of that which is available. Man has had an interest in space since time immemorial but the dream of space travel could only be satisfied when advances in rocket technology could make this dream possible (RussianSpaceWeb. com, â€Å"Pre-20th Century Developments†). Russia had established a rocket production plant as early as 1861 and Nikolai Ivanovich Kibalchich (1854 - 1881), a revolutionary who was to hang for his involvement in the assassination of Emperor Alexander II, had proposed the idea of slowly burning explosives as being useful for aeronautical applications. Thus, interest in space exploration had been present in Russia before the twentieth century but the practical realization of dreams could only be fulfilled because of advances in physics, chemistry and aeronautics, which were supported by economic development. Russia’s space exploration program was to receive a boost from efforts made in Germany to design long-range rockets during the Second World War (Harvey, â€Å"Russian Planetary Space Exploration† pp. 17 – 35). On May 4, 1945, Russian troops had occupied the German rocket research center at Peenemà ¼nde and this led to efforts directed towards improving on German rocket technology and incorporating the results in Russian technology (Chertok, pp. 1 – 15). Later, in 1950, a team led by Sergei Korolev was to study a multistage version of the R-3 rocket that was capable of launching a satellite into space and this was a departure from German efforts. However, Russian