8th+grade+-+Golden+Age+of+SF+-+Space+Exploration+(5th+block)

Space exploration has come a long way since it began. When people began to send things to space, many ideas were opened in science fiction. Space exploration and science fiction are not two separate things, but they are both connected. You can see this in sci-fi stories and in things did by space explores. Both of these things got ideas from the other. In the early twentieth century mankind began to send rockets into space. This put a new idea into the minds of people. “If we can send rockets to space then just maybe we can send humans to space?” Germans who began rocket-launching technology created this idea(see technology). In 1944, Germany sent the first rocket into space. It was called, The V2. This gave science fiction writers great ideas. These ideas helped sci-fi writers in the “Golden Age” write new ideas for stories. Great sci-fi writers like John W. Campbell, Issac Asimov, and many others wrote stories about the future of space exploration. Space explores began to take some of the ideas of these writers. One idea they took was sending humans to space, but first they sent other things. One of the first things to be sent to space were animals. The first animals to go to space were fruit flies in July 1946. They also sent a dog to space on November 3, 1957. Not only did people send animals to space they also sent satellites to space in 1957. Now that humans had sent thing to space it would not be long until humans themselves got into space. This accomplishment would come on April 12, 1961. On this date a Soviet spacecraft, carrying Yuri Gagarin(see scientific achievements), orbited around the world. It lasted one hour and forty-eight minuets. This was a great achievement for space explorers and sci-fi writers everywhere. Now that humans had been in space, sci-fi writers once again began to speculate about the future. They wrote stories about landing on planets. This dream was seen possible on July 21, 1969. The Apollo 11 carrying, Neil Armstrong, landed on the moon. These events helped to shape sci-fi into what we know it as today. As you can see sci-fi and space exploration are both connected. Even today you can see this. Science fiction writers wrote stories about humans being on Mars and now NASA is really trying to make this science fiction become a reality. They are trying to send humans to Mars. Both things, sci-fi and space exploration, both heavily depend on each other.
 * __Space Exploration By Ken booker__**
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