Man Goes to Space

Yuri Gagarin was the first astronaut from Russia to go to space. Russians call their space pilots cosmonauts. Yuri Gagarin, way back in April 1961, made his first journey to space. Later in 1969 Neil Armstrong from America made the giant leap for mankind and set foot on the moon. This was the year when a human being stepped on the moon for the first time. With the help of a Laser beam and a mirror placed on the moon, man enabled itself to also calculate the distance between the Earth and the moon. It is a surprising 376275 kms. Do you know you can jump 7 times higher on the moon than on Earth? It is because the gravity of the moon is much less than that of Earth. The temperature on the moon can fall down to -160℃ at night.

Spacesuit
Astronauts need to wear a spacesuit as soon as they leave the spacecraft. A spacesuit is designed to replicate the Earth's atmospheric conditions. It presses us down from inside and gives us fresh air to breathe. It has water tube lining inside to keep our body at the right temperature. The outer layer of the spacesuit is designed to protect us from harmful radiations and super-speedy micrometeoroids. A very sturdy helmet is designed to protect the astronaut against any dangerous radiation and space dust particles.

Spacecraft

A manned spacecraft is made up of two important sections. One is the astronaut section and the other is the equipment section. The astronaut section has all the instruments to control the spacecraft. It has special windows which protect against any kind of harmful radiations from coming. Besides, this is where the astronauts sleep, eat and also freshen up. The equipment section has the life support system, the power supply, engine and the fuel. Life support system is the system which supplied fresh air (a mixture of Oxygen and Nitrogen) to the crew. It also removes the Carbon-dioxide with the help of special pellets and also maintains the right temperature and humidity inside the compartment. A reusable spacecraft is called a space shuttle.