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Spacefaring
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Spacefaring societies or nations are those capable of building and launching vehicles into space. A more strict criteria defines spacefaring nations as those that can build, launch and return human spaceflight missions. "Spacefaring" is analogous to seafaring.
Spacefaring requires the vehicle assembly and launch facilities, as well as advanced astronautics, and a program to train astronauts. The problems of life support must be solved in proportion to the distance travelled.
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Encyclopedia
Spacefaring societies or nations are those capable of building and launching vehicles into space. A more strict criteria defines spacefaring nations as those that can build, launch and return human spaceflight missions. "Spacefaring" is analogous to seafaring.
Spacefaring requires the vehicle assembly and launch facilities, as well as advanced astronautics, and a program to train astronauts. The problems of life support must be solved in proportion to the distance travelled. Presently there has never been a manned mission outside of the Earth-Moon system, though the dream of travelling to Mars is persistent in literature and popular culture.
Manned spacefaring nations
Currently the United States, Russia and the People's Republic of China are the only three spacefaring nations, using the more strict definition. (date of first manned launch in parentheses)
- Soviet Union (Russia) (1961)
- United States of America (1961)
- People's Republic of China (2003)
Unmanned spacefaring nations
The following nations or organizations have launched unmanned spacecraft into orbit (date of first launch in parentheses):
- Soviet Union (Russia) (1957)
- United States (1958)
- France (1965)
- Australia (1967)
- Japan (1970)
- China (1970)
- United Kingdom (1971)
- European Space Agency [ESA] (1979)
- India (1980)
- Israel (1988)
- Ukraine (1999)
- Iran (2009)
Note that a larger number of countries than those listed above have launched suborbital spacecraft, and could also, in a loose sense, be considered spacefaring . This would include nations such as Germany which, with the V-2 rocket, could arguably be considered the first spacefaring nation. While Canada has designed and built several satellites of its own, it has never had any launch facilities or rockets whatsoever, and therefore does not qualify for this list.
Italy has designed and built several satellites, as well as pressurized (manned) modules for the International Space Station. Additionally, Italy was the third country to launch a satellite, albeit using vehicles provided by NASA, and operated a spaceport in Kenya (San Marco Platform) from 1966 to 1988. Italy is now developing the Vega rocket jointly with the ESA. The first Vega flight is currently scheduled for 2009. Once operational, Vega will make Italy a spacefaring nation, with planned launches by the ESA and Italian Aerospace Research Centre.
Also of note is that private U.S. citizens have achieved spacefaring status with Spaceship One and Falcon 1.
General space civilization
Generally, a planet-based civilization might have varying levels of difficulty in reaching space. Both the planet's gravity and atmosphere may have influence on the ease of space exploration. Gravity on a more massive planet would generally make it more difficult to launch a spacecraft into orbit. The effects of atmospheric friction on the craft must also be taken into consideration, as well as the amount of resources, including exotic materials possibly needed for construction of a spacecraft. Generally, only a species or civilization capable of interplanetary and/or interstellar flight is considered "truly" spacefaring. In fiction, such civilizations often possess colonies, either in their home system or possibly other planetary systems. As of present day technology, humanity would not be considered a space faring civilization because interplanetary travel, even within our own solar system, has been yet to be achieved by an actual living human. Many probes and non-human relays have been dispatched throughout the system and in outlying space however.
Spacefaring in popular culture
Science fiction often deals with more advanced spacefaring cultures, and the opportunities and challenges that this might bring to such societies.
One example would be Star Trek, where humanity, though already spacefaring, is still struggling to adapt to interstellar life, and in many cases, politics.
An additional example would follow the premise of science fiction author Larry Niven. In his short story, The Fourth Profession Mr. Niven postulates the arrival of a spacefaring culture of traders that depend in part on the technical sophistication of the civilizations being visited to build the requisite launch lasers to accelerate their mothership to the next star system. Cultures lacking resources to achieve manned spaceflight are ignored as animals.
See also
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