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SPACE RACE
By Vlad KUZMENKO
Left:
Yuri GAGARINwas the first human toorbit the Earth on April12, 1961
Right:
“Here we go!(Poyekhali!),” shouted Gagarin on the radiowhen his spacecraft 
Vostok-1
started its ascend 
On April 12 every year the Russian people celebrate Cosmonautics Day incommemoration of the first space flight in the world which was made by a Russiancitizen. Here are three main dates in the history of spaceexploration.
•
October 4, 1957
the Soviet Union sends the first sputnik(satellite) in the world into space (see the picture on the left).
•
April 12, 1961
the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin goesinto space and makes one orbit round the Earth in hisspaceship Vostok-1.
•
 July 21, 1969
the American astronauts Neil Armstrong andBuzz Aldrin land on the Moon. Immediately after setting foot on Moon,Armstrong uttered the most famous and legendary quote -
"That's onesmall step for (a)man, one giantleap formankind.”
Left:
Buzz Aldrin salutesthe US flag
Right:
Apollo-11 crew(Armstrong is on the left)
Since Yuri Gagarin's flight, Russian space science and engineering have come a longway. According to space experts in the US and Europe Russian takes the lead inalmost all space exploration. Russian has launched more than 2300 space vehiclesdesigned to perform a variety of functions. Unmanned satellites have been of greatsignificance in the exploration and peaceful use of outer space. They help us learn
 
more about the relations between processes occurring on the sun and near the earthand study the structure of the upper atmosphere. These satellites are provided withscientific equipment for space navigation of civil aviation and ship, as well asexploration of the World Ocean, the earth's surface and its natural resources. Russiais known to carry out many orbital manned flights involving over 80 cosmonauts,many of them having flown several times. It is well known that Russian cosmonautshold the record for the longest time in space (L. Kizim has worked 375 days) and forcontinuous stay in space (V. Titov and M.Manarov - 365 days). When the 170 millionhorse power carrier-rocket called "Energia"was successfully tasted in 1987, Russian hasgone far ahead of the United States in thespace competition. With the new "Energia"rocket it's possible to put into orbit a 100 tonload (One must know that the first satellitecarried 83.6 kg). That is enough to put intoorbit components for a space station whichcould be a platform for a manned flight toMars. Russian experts believe "Energia" to beable to take explorers to the Moon or bringback to the Earth satellites that went out of operation. In principle this makes it possibleto build in orbit large complexes fromseparate units not tens of meters butkilometers across. Cosmonauts would livethere permanently. And from these structuresmay be flights to other planets.
 Above Left:
Soviet 
Buran
compared with American
Space Shuttle
 The
Buran
 
(
Snowstorm
or
Blizzard 
)spacecraft, was the only fully completedand operational space shuttle vehicle fromthe Soviet Buran-Energia program. The
Buran
completed one unmannedspaceflight in 1988 before cancellation of the Soviet shuttle program in 1993. The
Buran
was subsequently destroyed by ahangar collapse in 2002.Like its American counterpart, the
Buran
,when in transit from its landing sites backto the launch complex, was transported onthe back of a large jet aeroplane. It waspiggy-backed on the Kyiv-designedAntonov An-225
Mriya
aircraft, which wasdesigned for thistask and remains the largest aircraft in the world (see thepicture on the right).
However 
However, the daring and romantic era of the Space Racehad an enormous cultural impact on the mankind. Not onlyhas it
of 00

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