Woudhuysen



Space Posts

Yuri Gagarin with Gemini 4 astronauts

Yuri Gagarin: when the world admired Russia

Published 12 April 2021

Western leaders’ praise for the USSR’s achievement 60 years ago stands in stark contrast to their Russophobia today

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China’s Yutu-2 rover parked to the left of its Chang'e-4 lander

China and India set the pace in space

Published 19 July 2019

Fifty years on from the first Moon landings, the human conquest of space has changed

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Over the Black Sea, by Alexei Leonov (1973)

Cosmonauts: a tribute to Russian grit

Published 20 October 2015

What is it about the Russians and space flight?

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China in space: conquests, reversals – and revival

Published 18 February 2014

The success, relapse and then partial resuscitation of its lunar explorer Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, should awaken us to the broad advance China has achieved in space

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Yuri Gagarin in Dolgoprudny

Yuri Gagarin’s brave, brilliant leap into the dark

Published 12 April 2011

On the 50th anniversary of the first manned spaceflight, James Woudhuysen praises Gagarin’s daring – and says we need more of it today

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Moon

Let’s go back to the Moon – and beyond

Published 29 June 2009

As the 40th anniversary of the first manned Moon landing approaches, backward attitudes here on Earth have tainted our view of lunar exploration

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Sputnik

Sputnik: when American fears went into orbit

Published 4 October 2007

When the Soviets put the first man-made satellite into space, 50 years ago today, the event launched an era of US self-doubt that continues to this day

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Mir space station viewed from endeavour

Design for space

Published 22 July 1989

Inside the Command Module, Armstrong confronted no fewer than 650 switches, dials, motors, circuit breakers, controls and displays

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