While the space scientists had put animals, especially dogs, into space, not all the attempts had succeeded and the effects of space flight on the human body were not understood. The team had to calculate how to get him into space and back safely despite this never having been done before. Calculations were checked by hand, and the electronics were bulky and prone to failure. The scientists had none of computers or compact circuits which are available today. The technology which launched Gagarin into space was primitive by modern standards, but it shows what can be achieved through rigorous application of math and physics. The rocket design meant that no-one taller than 170cm could be chosen. He passed the tests and then was selected for space training. His training career was saved by a cushion with a sympathetic instructor gave him to help see out the window. He was so short he could not easily see out the canopy and had problems landing the aircraft. He impressed tutors with his ability in complex math and physics. He learned to read from a discarded military training manual and later signed up for night classes while he worked in a steel factory during the day. The tumult and disruption meant he was mostly self-taught. They were assumed dead until they were rescued towards the end of the conflict. He had a turbulent start in life with his education being disrupted by a war which also saw his home destroyed and his two older siblings deported for slave labor. He was short, just 157cm, and some of his colleague and supervisors found him to be shy. His journey was an epic milestone in human history and showed how quickly technology had advanced from the flimsy aircraft of the beginning of the 20 th century to the rockets which could take people towards the stars. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to orbit the earth and see the planet from above. This month the world marks 60 years since the first human being blasted into space. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.The Lifelong Learner Who Reached for the Stars This questionoriginally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights. Those beings, if they end up coming into existence, will achieve interstellar travel. 01c, taking 1,000–1,500 years to cross the gulf between stars will be meaningless in the lives of those beings - beings who are effectively immortal who see time as a non-obstacle. With lives extended to the many millennia, with intelligences in VR and AI’s meandering about the solar system, “time” won’t have the same cachet as it does today. But if we survive and continue advancing, then homo sapiens are done in a few centuries at the longest a century at the shortest.Īt some point in time, the advancing technology will unlock self-assembling, self-making robotics that leverage exponential growth that will either be our end or our elevation to the pinnacle of abilities in this cosmos. A global disaster could destroy our civilization but leave a few hundred thousand of us thrown back the equivalent of five millennia. We’ll be something else … IF “we” survive that long and continue advancing technologically. The temptation to create new biological features un-imagined by “Mother Nature” wholly invented by us and our super-advanced computer technology (maybe a new cell wall, completely re-engineered mitochondria, or a cell part that we cannot imagine today) will become overwhelming.Īt some point, after sufficient changes, we won’t be human any longer. The temptation to enhance with artificial bits - that connect us to instant information, right to the brain - will be overwhelming. The temptation to enhance with some genetic coding from other beasts will become overwhelming. Maybe it won’t become prosaic until 2125, but at some point very soon, the temptation to remove all “negative” traits will be overwhelming. If our descendants survive, they will adjust their genome.
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