Prehistory 2

...........With the great upheavals in predominant thought manifested during the renaissance, science began to look again toward the stars. The polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus ushered in a new age of reason with his postulation that the sun, rather than the earth, lay at the center of the known universe. The Copernican concept advanced in his book De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium prompted new developments to occur in the field of astronomy at an ever-quickening pace (Emme, 23). A few years later one of the most significant leaps in the progression of human intelligence took shape. In the year 1600 the Danish court astronomer Tycho Brahe was accosted by the mathematician Johannes Kepler, who requested the formers’ recordings of celestial motions (Waxman, 11). Eventually surrendering his data to Kepler, Brahe allowed Kepler to perform the first true application of the now popular "scientific method" in his theories about the planets. This is a method wherein an hypothesis is tested in a repeatable experiment and shown to be true or false based on observable recorded data; when a conclusion is reached it can be said whether the original hypothesis was false or seemingly true. This is a development in human history and particularly in the history of science that merits far more attention than it is given here. Its importance is analogous to the invention of the wheel.

The Heliocentric theory proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus marked a radical new wave of scientific thought that permeated throughout the renaissance. No longer content with the conventional thinking that the Earth lay at the center of the universe, Copernicus instead placed the Sun at the center. This disputed theory would be reaffirmed by scientists who followed thereafter.

...........Besides Kepler’s incredible contribution to the practice of scientists, he shattered previous beliefs about the nature of the celestial bodies. Keplers three laws of planetary motion predicted correctly the motions of the planets; far from the ideal, spherical, and changeless universe adamantly prescribed to in the past, the new system was pragmatic, simple and predictable, with elliptical planetary orbits that varied in speed and distance. This new view of the physical world inexorably changed societal views about the world beyond, placing humanity on an imperfect little planet among other greater worlds, not central or exceedingly important to the goings on of the rest of the universe. If some people still resisted this new world order, their arguments would be dealt a final coup de grace by the observations of another great mind scarcely a decade later.

............Perhaps the two most influential characters in the history of the space sciences were to follow along with and shortly after the radical and controversial Kepler. A new tool for observation of the solar system fell into the hands of the mathematician and philosopher Galileo Galilae, with the first known use of the telescope for astronomical observation in 1609 (Waxman, 13). Galilae made hitherto unachievable advances in the understanding of the heavens, an understanding far too profound to fully explore here. The hallmark of Galilaes' studies were his observations regarding the satellites of the planet Jupiter and his recordings about the phases of Venus. From these observations he irrefutably proved that the sun lay at the center of the solar system and that heavenly bodies were bound by a sort of celestial dance far different than had been considered before. His astronomical observations and speculations regarding life on other planets are due a great deal of attention for their impact on popular literature and culture. So disturbing were his visions through that simple dual-lens telescope that twice he faced the inquisition for heresy and eventually spent a decade of his life in confinement. His discoveries, however, would not be confined.

The revolutionary observations made by Galileo through his exceedingly crude telescope made concrete the Heliocentric theory reintroduced by Copernicus years before.

An artists conception of a journey to the moon ca. 1600's.

...........With the increased range of human observations granted by the advent of the telescope, new developments in thought regarding the moon and planets were to occur at a staggering pace. In conjunction with Galilae’s false observation of "cities" on the moon, Johannes Kepler was writing what was to be one of the first true science fiction classics. His popular book Somnium, published in 1634, described a dreamlike trip to the lunar surface, where he encountered fantastic creatures and a foreboding landscape, his journey vividly rooted in scientific speculation (Emme, 35). A new passion had been aroused in the hearts and minds of man. The push for exploration beyond our world gained its first footholds in the success of this and following stories. Keplers’ essential work sparked a flurry of other literary works on the subject by little known authors such as Francis Godwin and John Wilkins, as well as famed littérateurs such as Cyrano DeBergerac and Daniel DeFoe (Emme, 36). The telescope was to continue to revolutionize contemporary scientific thought and imagination even to this day, as we are now receiving stunning photos of distant galaxies from the earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope frequently.

...........One more champion of scientific progress was to appear during the seventeenth century; his intellectual contributions were the foremost factor in allowing the extension of the human frontier beyond the earth. Isaac Newton, the father of physics, was born in the year of Galileo's death, and his work was to explain some of the deepest mysteries of the universe uncovered by his predecessors stargazing. Newton said of the extraordinary revelations laid down in his landmark work titled Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis: "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants" (Emme, 26). This was indeed the most apt description for Newtons unforeseen breakthroughs in the sciences. He invented the laws of motion and gravity, created the exceptional new reflecting telescope, and formulated the mathematical principles of calculus, effectively combining the most nebulous aspects of the renaissance scientists’ discoveries into one all encompassing set of natural laws. According to astronomy professor Jerry Waxman, "Any one of [Newton’s] achievements would have marked a man for everlasting fame. Together, they form the most glorious period of scientific insight in the history of physics" (Waxman, 14). As physics is the backbone of space age advancement, it is important to realize the pivotal role of Newton in our study of the origins of space travel.

Isaac Newton, the father of modern physics and calculus. His theories birthed the idea that humans could orbit or depart from the planet.

...........The next three hundred years after Newton’s extraordinary discoveries witnessed the gradual extension of human sciences farther and deeper into space. Larger telescopes would be constructed to observe the outer solar system and even more fantastic breakthroughs would continually reshape human understanding, eventually hurling our own eyes and bodies to the far reaches of space. The onset of the industrial revolution would see the flowering of the sciences into technological devices and contraptions of every conceivable type. The development of flying machines, long in the making, would reach new heights and the technologies of old and new would eventually converge to allow the next great age of discovery. More revolutionaries would appear to redefine old covenants and inspire newer and greater quests. The rebirth of awareness embodied by the renaissance men opened the book upon which the events of the space age were to be inscribed. The next step in the onset of the space age would be the compilation and organization of necessary resources and technology, as well as a heightened interest in space prompted by some curious and imaginative stories and pseudo-discoveries. The eventual launching of interplanetary vessels may have been inevitable by the time of the renaissance’s conclusion. Considering the great leaps that had been experienced during this era in almost all fields of human intelligence and the new passion for sciences that it had spawned, it was just a matter of time before we went to the places that we could not bring home to us.