With the first moon landing in 1969, human fascination in the gray world of space has only grown—and rapidly. Since this time, humans have only returned to the moon a mere five times, but we have set our sights even higher than the moon; projects like the Mars One landings show that Earth is much more interested in other areas of space other than just the moon.
The last moon landing was recorded as December 7, 1972 with Apollo 17. The crew was made up of three experienced pilots: Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt, who all went on a 12-day mission. While going to space seems like an unbelievable experience– and definitely is– it can take years off of the astronauts life.
Amazingly, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has some of the best technology in the world, and in 2019 plans to send yet another probe into space. Having already been beyond Pluto, NASA’s New Horizons probe plans to make yet another space debut this year, making this the furthest location the human race has reached in space. It plans on passing a strange item near the Kuiper Belt.
However, the United States does not plan to stop at probes. The next mission, which includes bringing humans into space, is set for the 2030s and will be a trip to the planet Mars. If successful, it will mark the furthest planet traveled for the human race. This is extraordinary because there will be a generation of people who were alive to see the first moon landing, as well as the first human landing on a different planet.
If all goes well with NASA’s New Horizon Probe, and the future of human space travel also brings success, then maybe we will see a new wave of plans for space endeavors in the near future following these events. The continuing mystery that lurks around the idea of space travel does not seem to stop our curiosity, and hopefully not only in the new year, but in the many years to come, humans can continue to expand our current knowledge of space and keep inventing technology to travel even further.