The earth is enveloped by many gases. This area is called atmosphere. Beyond this area comes the area of space or atmosphere in which there are no gases.
Generally there art three means of exploring the space. The first means is with the help of balloons. But ii cannot go very high. Rockets are one of the two modern ways of exploring the apace. There are several stages or sections in each rocket so that each may be dropped off after its fuel has been spent and thus reducing the total weight of the ascending rocket. Th. third modern method of exploring the space is through satellite. These are metallic spheres which contain various instruments. They are thrown into the space with the help of rockets. These rockets put them into the desired orbit. There the satellite begins to travel round the earth like artificial planets.
In the race of space exploration, both Russiaand Americaare competing partners. Russiawas the first country to get a man-made satellite called Sputnik 1 into orbit around the earth on 4th October, 1957; a date which may be said to mark the beginning of space exploration.Russia launched on 3rd November, 1957, it: second satellite in the space known as Sputnik 11 which carried a dog named Laika. It went to the height of 930 miles and its speed was 18,000 miles per hour. The dog returned to the earth alive. In January 1958, theU.S.A. put into orbit its rust satellite called Explorer 1. It was lighter but its speed was greater than that of the Russian one. It traveled round the earth at the height of 1,000 miles with a speed of 19,000 miles per hour. This was followed by the launching of a series of satellites by both the Russians and the Americans. A Russian astronaut, Yuri Gagarin, was the first man to get into space in April, 1961, and he came back to the earth safe and sound.
The story of success began with the landing of Apollo 11 in space. It was on the 20th of July 1969, Neil Armstrong, a citizen of theU.S.A., set foot upon the moon. He planted a banner of his country with these words that it was the first step ofUSAand a big leap of mankind. This heralded the victory of man over time and space and ushered a new era in the space explorations. Since then several attempt have been made to orbit round other stars by the two powers.
Space travel is one of the great wonders of science. Mans highest aspiration of life appears to have been crowned with success.