World’s space achievements a bright spot in stressful 2020
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. » Astronauts blasted into orbit from the U. S. for the first time in nearly a decade, three countries sent spacecraft hurtling toward Mars, and robotic explorers grabbed rocks from the moon and gravel from an asteroid for return to Earth.
Space provided moments of hope and glory in an otherwise difficult, stressful year.
It promises to do the same in 2021, with February’s landings at Mars and next fall’s planned launch of the Hubble Space Telescope’s successor — the next- generation James Webb Space Telescope.
Boeing hopes to catch up with SpaceX in the astronaut-launching department, while space tourism may finally get off the ground.
“2021 promises to be as much of a space exploration bright spot, perhaps even more,” said Scott Hubbard, NASA’s former “Mars Czar” now teaching at Stanford University.
Although the coronavirus pandemic complicated space operations around the globe in 2020, most high- priority missions remained on track, led by the U. S., China and the United Arab Emirates in a stampede to Mars in July.
The UAE’s first interplanetary spacecraft, an orbiter, will scrutinize the Martian atmosphere. NASA’s Perseverance rover is set to land Feb. 18 at an ancient river delta and lakebed where microscopic life may have once flourished. The rover will drill into the dry crust, collecting samples for eventual return to Earth.
China’s orbiter- rover duo Tianwen- 1 — quest for heavenly truth — also will hunt for signs of bygone life.
The European and Russian space agencies skipped the 2020 Mars launch window, their life- sniffing Mars rover grounded until 2022 because of technical issues and COVID- 19 restrictions.
China also set its sights on the moon in 2020, landing and then launching off the lunar surface in December with the first moon rocks collected for return to Earth since the 1970s.
Japan brought back pieces of asteroid Ryugu — its second asteroid batch in a decade. More asteroid samples are on the way: NASA’s Osiris- Rex spacecraft vacuumed up handfuls of gravel from asteroid Bennu in October for return in 2023.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX, meanwhile, was buzzing in 2020. In May, it became the first private company to put people into orbit, an achievement previously claimed by just three global superpowers. The two test pilots were the first NASA astronauts to fly a new brand of spaceship in almost 40 years and the first to blast off from Florida since the shuttle program ended in 2011.
In November, four more astronauts rode a SpaceX Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. Three weeks later, SpaceX launched its biggest cargo shipment yet to the space station for NASA.
“This is an impressive achievement which Americans should be proud of,” astronaut- turned- senator Mark Kelly said of the Dragon capsule doubleheader.
Until the SpaceX flights, Russia’s three- person Soyuz capsules were the only way to get astronauts to the space station once NASA’s shuttles shut down.
NASA’s other hired crew transporter, Boeing, is scrambling to get its Starliner capsule back in action after a software- spoiled test flight in December 2019. The do- over — again with no one on board — is targeted for spring. If the repairs work and the capsule finally reaches the space station, the first Starliner astronauts could be flying by summer.
Musk capped the year with a stratospheric test f light of Starship, the rocketship he’s building to carry people to the moon and Mars. The Dec. 9 demo went better than anyone imagined until a fiery explosion at touchdown. Even so, Musk was ecstatic.