While great leaps were made by both the Soviets and the United States, there are still more giant leaps to be made. One leap that has yet to be made is sending humans to the closest planet, Mars. The company, Space X, has been created with that one goal in mind. They were created by Elon Musk, and are backed by his financial support. With his support they have personally been able to make leaps with in the rocketry community, most notably with their reusable rocket called the grasshopper. This rocket has the capability of launching a satellite into orbit and being able to return back to the launch pad in a vertical position. Previously the rockets were a one-time use machine but not with this advancement, the cost of going into orbit would be able to be reduced. While going to Mars is amazing and a great leap forward, that journey would not be for a common citizen. Sir Richard Branson has been able to pioneer the common citizens means to a space adventure with his company, Virgin Galactic. Starting in 2004 it has been a top competitor in this market, creating new technology to cheapen the cost of a ticket. One advance they made was the development of the idea that the rocket is first brought high up into the air before it is launched. This is accomplished through the use of specially designed airplane which brings the rocket into high altitude before it is released and launched. This does come with some risks though like when a test pilot was killed during a testing stage of the rocket. Once they get to space though, they can utilize another continuing advancement called the ion thruster. This is not an engine nor a motor since this is a small continuous force over a long friction less journey. This truster works by ionizing a specialized gas which then in turn creates plasma which is shot out the back of the rocket. This truster is not like a conventional propulsion system since an average household fan creates more thrust than one truster does. However, with advancing technology, scientist are hoping to up the power so this technology can be utilized to reach Mars cheaply. Currently it is being used in the satellite that passed Pluto, New horizons, and in the proses has worked very reliably due to no moving parts. A possibility for this technology could be reaching asteroids to be mined. NASA has predicted that we may need to mine asteroids for their minerals. A company, Planetary Resources, heard this call and was created in 2012. They have been able to utilize another advancing technological field in space exploration call the Cube Sat. This is a mini personal satellite that anyone can launch into low earth orbit to do whatever the satellite is designed to do. Planetary Resources has been able to outfit these personal satellites to contain new technology that they wish to test out in space. With all of the advancing technology in space exploration it is only a mystery what is a head for the human race.

While the Unites States were able to make a quick leap into space, the Soviets made an even bigger one leading to the beginning of what is known as the Space Race. This race and the leaps made by the Soviets was a great concern for United States since these feats were able to be translated into various advancements in the Soviets quest to obtain a nuclear tipped intercontinental ballistic missile. Their first great leap into space was the launch and orbit of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit Earth. This feat signified that the Soviets had the capability to reach space, causing the united states to worry about what else they might have the capability of reaching. An interesting fact about Sputnik is that anyone with a HAM radio could listen to the distinctive beeps as it passed over their heads. Sometimes people could even see the satellite as it passed over their heads with the help of a telescope or a pair of binoculars. This accomplishment was followed up three years later (1960) with the launch and survival of the first living animals into space, two dogs names Stelka and Belka. This accomplishment showed that the Soviets had the technology to send humans into space and come back safely.  This feat is exactly what they did, sending Yuri Gargari, into space in 1961 and only a year later put the first woman into space. While all of these feats were a great concern to the Unites States, none of them would have been possible without the help of German Rocket scientists. The Americans were able to capture almost all of the rocket scientists and information pertaining to the Nazi rocket program but in the chaos fallowing the end of the war, left some behind for the Russians to get.  In the beginning the Soviets conducted their rocket research with in Germany since the facilities were preexisting there.  However, as time went on Soviet officials grew weary and decided to move the research to the main land of the Soviet Union.  There they were under the command of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, the lead Soviet rocket scientist. He is the one that has been credited with the creation and advancement of the soviet space program.  With only a few blue prints of the German V-2 rocket available to him, he was able to transform the V-2 in a new and advanced missile with additional boosters. This missile would later be transformed into the launch vehicle used in almost all of the advancements made by the Soviets. Just before his death, Korolev was working towards beating the Americans to the moon through the development of an extremely large rocket called the N1. This five stage rocket would have the capability to get to moon in one shot however it was quickly brushed aside after Korolev’s death and four failures within two minutes of the launch.  Korolev was a brilliant man who worked towards the advancement of the Soviet Space program but was rob of his life at the height of his career.  No one can deny that the Soviets were able to make manly leaps forward that have been able to advance society and space travel.

The conclusion from the secret meeting is to surrender to the Americans as soon as possible. To accomplish this mission, Von Braun sent his own brother, Magnus, to talk to the Americans to arrange for their surrender due to his ability to speak broken English. However, this was not truly helpful since the first few American troop he encountered were unable to understand why he was truly there. One theory that they had was that Magnus was trying to sell his brothers to the Americans however the communication problem was quickly fixed and passes were granted for all of the Germans.

When Magnus returns it is reported that all of the scientists jumped for joy, and ecstatically greeted him home.  They all piled into three vehicles and all raced off to the American camp where they were quickly welcome yet fiercely interrogated. Due to Von Braun’s young looks, none of the American troops believed that he truly was the expert rocket scientist.  Once the troops confirmed who Von Braun was, they sent him to D.C to be debriefed and be put into a team of other engineers and scientists. Even with the Americans, Von Braun was unable to work on his true mission, going into space. He was sent to White Sands, New Mexico where his team was designated to study the remaining V-2 rockets with different payloads.  He was eventually able to design the Redstone missile for the USA however with the advancing space race, Von Braun was called up to help.  He was able to design the first rocket that the USA used to send their first satellite to space and with this advancement was able to get his team American citizenship. Later that year he decided to start to write for science magazines, eventually coming up with the idea of a space station.

(Von Braun posing in front of all the rockets h helped design for the USA)

He was then moved to NASA in Huntsville Alabama where he was made director of the center and lead architect for the Saturn rocket. There are three classes of rockets, the Saturn 1 Saturn 1b, and the Saturn V. The first two rocket classes were designed to send humans into only orbit while the Saturn V was deigned to send humans to the moon. NASA was able to use the Saturn V for their Apollo missions and to launch their first space station, the Skylab, into orbit. The most notable mission that used the Saturn V rocket was Apollo 11. Within this mission the crew preformed scientific experiments but also where the first men to walk on the moon.  Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michal Collins were the crew with the mission with Neil Armstrong taking the title of first man on the moon. With this immense success, the potential for tragedies happen. Over the course of all the Apollo missions there were only three missions were a tragedy occurred. The one mission that everyone remembers is Apollo 13. This mission was marked as a tragedy due to an on board explosion causing the crew to sling shot around the moon instead of landing on it, to head home. Most people will remember it by the movie where Tom Hanks is the main character

(Von Braun with a Saturn V rocket engine)