Spacefaring
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Spacefaring is a term used to describe societies or nations capable of building and launching vehicles into space [1][2]. Some use a more strict criteria, defining spacefaring nations as those that can build, launch and return manned space vehicles. "Spacefaring" is analogous to seafaring.
Spacefaring requires the vehicle assembly and launch facilities, as well as advanced astronautics, and a program to train astronauts. The problems of life support must be solved in proportion to the distance travelled. Presently there has never been a manned mission outside of the Earth-Moon system, though the dream of travelling to Mars is persistent in literature and popular culture.
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[edit] Manned Spacefaring Nations
Currently the United States of America, Russia and the People's Republic of China are the only three spacefaring nations, using the more strict definition. (date of first manned launch in parenthesis)
- Soviet Union (Russia) (1961)
- United States of America (1961)
- People's Republic of China (2003)
[edit] Unmanned Spacefaring Nations
The following nations or organizations have launched unmanned spacecraft into orbit (date of first launch in parenthesis)[3]:
- Soviet Union (Russia) (1957)
- United States (1958)
- France (1965)
- Australia (1967)
- Japan (1970)
- China (1970)
- United Kingdom (1971)
- European Space Agency (1979)
- India (1980)
- Israel (1988)
- Ukraine (1999)
Note that a larger number of countries than those listed above have launched suborbital spacecraft, and could also, in a loose sense, be considered spacefaring [4]. This would include nations such as Germany which, with the V-2 rocket, could arguably be considered the first spacefaring nation. While Canada has designed and built several satelites of their own, they have never had any launch facilities or rockets whatsoever, and therefore do not qualify for this list. Italy has designed and built several satellites (Italy was the fourth country to launch a satellite, however the launch vehicle itself was a gift from NASA and the country has never developed any launch capability of its own) and manned pressurized modules (e.g. for the International Space Station). From 1966 to 1988 an Italian spaceport (the San Marco Platform) was operational in the coastal sublittoral of Kenya. Now Italy develops the space launcher Vega that will be operate by ESA from 2008. In that sense, Italy can be fully considered a spacefaring country.
Also of note is that private U.S. citizens have achieved spacefaring (though not orbital) status with Spaceship One
[edit] General space civilization
Generally, a planet-based civilization might have varying levels of difficulty in reaching space. Both the planet's gravity and atmosphere may have influence on the ease of space exploration. Gravity on a heavier planet would make it more difficult to launch a spacecraft into orbit. The effects of atmospheric friction on the craft must also be taken into consideration, as well as the amount of resources, including exotic materials possibly needed for construction of a spacecraft. Generally, only a species or civilization capable of interplanetary and/or interstellar flight is considered "truly" spacefaring. In fiction, such civilizations often possess colonies, either in their home system or possibly other planetary systems. As of present day technology, humanity would not be considered a space faring civilization because interplanetary travel, even within our own solar system, has been yet to be achieved by an actual living human. Many probes and non-human relays have been dispatched throughout the system and in outlying space however.
[edit] Spacefaring in popular culture
Science Fiction often deals with more advanced spacefaring cultures, and the opportunities and challenges that this might bring to such societies.
One example would be Star Trek, where humanity, though already spacefaring, is still struggling to adapt to interstellar life, and in many cases, politics.
An additional example would follow the premise of science fiction author Larry Niven. In his short story, The Fourth Profession Mr. Niven postulates the arrival of a spacefaring culture of traders that depend in part on the technical sophistication of the civilizations being visited to build the requisite launch lasers to accelerate their mothership to the next star system. Cultures lacking resources to achieve manned spaceflight are ignored as animals.
