We are privileged to be living in one of the greatest eras of exploration that humankind has ever undertaken. Our current Age of Space grew out of the dark struggles of World War II when large rockets were developed as agents of mass murder. The subsequent Cold War rivalry between the United States and Soviet Union pushed rocket capabilities to the point that it became possible to send vehicles into Earth orbit and beyond (even though the stated aim was to send missiles carrying nuclear weapons over mere continental distances). The Russians put the first human into Earth orbit. The Apollo missions took American astronauts to the.
