Journey to conquer the universe to see the Earth without borders

Putting aside differences and disagreements in political views, many powers such as Russia, the US, China, or Japan still cooperate to bring humanity many important achievements in space exploration.

Exactly 63 years ago, on April 12, 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to fly into space on the ship Orient.

The Nauka module of the Russian space agency Roscosmos landed at the International Space Station on July 29, 2021. (Photo: AFP/TTXVN).

This success was not only the pride of the Soviet Union at that time, but also a breakthrough in humanity's conquest of space, opening a new era in the history of world science: the Human Era. Conquer the universe and do scientific research right in space.

To mark this memorable achievement, in 2011, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution officially declaring April 12 as the International Day of Human Spaceflight.

Gagarin's successful flight brought joy and became the motivation for everyone to realize their dream of "flying to the stars".

The world's aviation and aerospace industry is constantly developing, expanding and conquering many new spaces. Since then, there have been hundreds of men and women from many countries around the world in space. During orbital flights, in addition to astronauts, there are also tourists.

Particularly for many astronauts, space flights are no longer something supernatural, they feel their presence in orbit as a normal job.

On the International Space Station (ISS) - a complex with the participation of 15 countries, scientists research and operate life assurance systems, conduct astronomy and engineering experiments. , medical.

They also learned how to live and work long days in near-Earth orbit, launch different types of equipment and machinery to near and far planets, prepare for manned flights to Mars.

The aerospace field also continuously witnesses significant advances, opening up new hopes for the connection between humans and the universe.

2023 is the year that witnesses many major events in humanity's conquest of space: India sends a spacecraft to land on the South Pole of the Moon, the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) brings back asteroid samples. Earth for research, billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX company launched nearly 100 rockets, while Japan and Europe put new space telescopes into orbit.

Deep space exploration projects are getting an even stronger boost in 2024, with the Moon continuing to be a top destination.

On January 20, Japan became the fifth country to have an unmanned spacecraft land on the Moon (after the former Soviet Union, the US, China and India).

Notably, Japan's Smart Lunar Research Lander (SLIM)  achieved a miracle by surviving two extremely cold moonlit nights (-183 degrees Celsius and -130 degrees Celsius, respectively) even though it was not designed designed for this condition.

In addition, SLIM also demonstrates high-precision landing technology - a remarkable and necessary advancement for the search for water and oxygen on the Moon, elements necessary for human survival.

Not as lucky as SLIM, the unmanned lander Odysseus of Intuitive Machines (USA) was unable to "wake up" after the extremely cold night, becoming the first private spacecraft to "sleep forever" on the Sun. moon. moon.

Astronauts were taken by Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 23, 2024. (Photo: AFP/TTXVN)

However, the landing of the Odysseus spacecraft on February 22 marked the first time an American spacecraft landed on the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission (manned) in 1972, and was also the first time a US spacecraft landed on the Moon. first commercial lander to land on Earth's only satellite.

The US is planning to launch the Artemis 2 Mission next November, when a group of four astronauts will travel around the Moon and back. They will be the first people to travel near the Moon since 1972 - when the Apollo 17 mission ended.

In addition, NASA also plans to launch the Europa Clipper spacecraft  next October to explore Europa - Jupiter's moon.

Europa's icy surface is believed to hide a vast ocean that scientists say could contain conditions suitable for life.

China also plans to launch a probe to the Moon for the fourth time . According to the plan, the Chang'e 6 spacecraft can move towards the dark side of the Moon in May 2024, collecting lunar rock and dust samples to bring back to Earth for research.

If successful, this mission will mark the first time rock samples have been returned to Earth from an area that has never been explored by humans.

India is equally busy preparing to launch at least 12 missions , including testing a spacecraft to bring humans and a humanoid robot named Vyomitra into space, before implementing the Gaganyaan mission - sending pilots to space. 3-member crew orbits 400 km around Earth on a 3-day mission - in 2025.

India also launched the next stages of the mission to put the spacecraft into Mars orbit, to study the surface, atmosphere and climate conditions of the "Red Planet".

Along with that is the mission to fly into Venus orbit. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to establish the country's own space station by 2035 and send the first Indian to the Moon by 2040.

A series of companies such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Blue Origin or LandSpace Technology. are also racing in the field of rocket development, focusing on reusability - an approach pioneered by SpaceX. . SpaceX is currently in the process of developing the giant Starship spacecraft, designed to be able to travel "round trip" many times from Earth to the Moon or Mars.

Multinational bank Bank of America predicts that the space industry will grow strongly with an estimated scale of 1,400 billion USD by 2030. It can be seen that, although each country has its own approach suitable for capacity, but the spirit of close cooperation and healthy competition really left its mark.

'From space, I can no longer see national borders! The green earth is an eternal blue color'. Yuri Gagarin's first words transmitted from space to Earth are also the eternal message of peace that he wants to send to people all over the planet.

Putting aside differences and disagreements in political views, many powers such as Russia, the US, China, or Japan still cooperate to bring humanity many important achievements in the process of space exploration.

Russian President Vladimir Putin once emphasized that: 'Space is a place of joint activities, allowing us to forget all the complexities in international relations and promote activities in the field of high technology to restore for the future of nations and the future of humanity'.

He called for not 'politicizing space' and expanding international cooperation in the field of space research for the common benefit of humanity.

In fact, over the years, space exploration cooperation has been one of the few areas of international cooperation between Russia and the US that has not been affected by political tensions between the two countries.

The cooperation agreement in the field of research and use of space and outer space for peaceful purposes between Russia and the United States signed in 1992 is one of the basic legal frameworks to create conditions to promote cooperation in space exploration. pillar.

Since then, this agreement has been extended four times, at least until December 2030. Extending this agreement will meet the interests of both sides, promote the effective implementation of joint space and space projects, and once again affirm that: Seen from space, the Earth is a common house.