Space Travel
Throughout history, man has dreamed of space travel, but it has only been within the last century that this dream has come true. The history of modern space travel began with rockets developed during World War II. After WWII, many of the scientists who worked on military projects adapted their rockets for space travel. The timeline of space travel developments continued through the Cold War. An organization called NASA was formed in the U.S.A. to develop the technology for space travel.

The first space traveller was an animal - a monkey sent into space. The first experiments in space travel went a long way towards understanding the medical dangers involved. As space is a vacuum, space travellers have to bring their own oxygen with them. Radiation is also a medical danger, and requires shielding to be built into the ship and space suits. Also, because there is no gravity in space, space travellers' food is usually kept in semi-liquid form inside of bags to prevent it from flying all over the interior of the spaceship.

Why is space travel important? First, it is important because it allows us to explore and experience more of our universe. Technology is also developed for space travel that later becomes useful for applications here on Earth, and the funding that goes into space exploration helps progress in the sciences.

In the future, space travel will become increasingly affordable. Space travel will be available to normal people as well as specially trained astronauts and the rich. Before space travel reaches that level of sophistication, however, some technological problems need to be overcome. Rocket based launches can be dangerous - if there is an accident during the launch it is very difficult to recover, as evidenced by the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster.

Fortunately, a new kind of space travel is currently being developed by private companies that uses airplane technology to reach a high altitude, and then activates rockets to go the rest of the way. This significantly cuts down on the risk. As this technology becomes easier to build and more reliable, space travel will be available for tourists. Within our lifetimes, we may all get to enjoy the wonders of space first-hand.