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8/05/2019

Topic Reading-Vol.2672-8/5/2019


Dear MEL Topic Readers,
The Silicon Valley space race
Space race was originally caused by the clash between East and West, or communism and capitalism, and had been driven by patriotism and nationalism until the end of the cold war. The first animal that went to space was a dog nicknamed Laika in 1957. Yuri Gagarin was the first man who made a space trip in 1961. Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to fly to space in 1963. They were all Russians. It took another six years for Russia’s space rival to mark “the first” mission in space, Apollo 11 to land the first man on the moon in 1969. An enormous amount of investment was made to develop and advance technologies to realize these missions, which subsequently brought about and enhanced new technologies, such as semiconductors, microchips, and computers to aerospace, military, and IT industries.
Even after the cold war, there is fierce but peaceful race is going on in space. China and India are on the racetrack to send probe missions to the moon. In the private sector, several ambitious space missions have been undertaken, such as a trip to space, landing on the moon and even colonizing Mars.
One of them is Space X by Elon Musk, the founder of PayPal and Tesla. It is an aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company that aims to reduce costs for space transportation and to build a colony on Mars.
Blue Origin in another aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services company that was founded and funded by Jeff Bezos, the founder and chairman of Amazon. The company also visions to realize space colonies that can be inhabited by thousands of people, just like Rama described by Arthur C. Clarke.
After all, egos, whether they are national or personal, seem to stimulate human ingenuities.
Enjoy watching the video and think what motivates and drives people to go beyond what they are.

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