톰행크가 주연한 영화 '훠리스트검프'의 한 장면을 보면 아폴로11호가 달에 착륙하는것을 보여주는 TV프로그램을 외면하고 모든 사람들이 신(?)들린듯 탁구묘기를 부리는 훠리스트검프에 시선을 집중하는 것을 볼 수 있다. 그 사람들의 관심거리는 인류 최초로 인간이 달에 착륙한 것 보다 훠리스트검프의 신기에 가까운 묘기에 더 관심이 있었던 것이다.
아폴로11호가 달에 착륙하던날 나는 옆집에 이웃들이 모두 모여앉아 TV화면에 온갖 시선을 집중하던 어른들의 모습을 기억한다. 그날 옆집 아주머니는 여러가지 다과를 준비했는데 그 중 내가 기억하는 것은 조그만하게 잘라놓은 카스테라 빵이었다. 먹을것이 요즘처럼 흔하지안턴 그 시절에 카스테라는 내 입안에서 살살 녹아내렸고 아쉽게도 닐암스트롱이 최초로 달에 발을 내딛는 기억은 까마득히 날듯말듯하다. 내 마음은 인류역사의 새로운 장을 여는 그 순간보다도 입안에서 살살 녹는 그 달콤한 맛이 훨씬 중요하다고 판단(?)해서 그쪽을 택하는 아쉬운 실수를 하고야 말았던것이다.
인터넷붐이 일어난 후 가장 먼저 반응을 보였던 업계(?)는 가상공간속의 '섹스Shop'들이었고 현재도 엄청난 속도로 성장을 하고있으며, 인터넷의 최신 기술들을 앞다투어 그들의 홈페이지에 설치하고있다… 방문자들에게 좀더 실감나는 서비스(?)를 제공한다는 '모토'아래…
당신들의 업적 관리에, 당신에게 맡겨진 어린양들 숫자관리에, 당신의 미래를 보장하는 건물관리에, 당신보다 잘난 후배들보다 더 잘난 이미지 관리에 온갖 관심을 쏟는 우리들의 지도자님들의 마음은 정녕 이시대의 긴박한 '인터넷선교'보다는 '콩밭'에 가있는것입니까?
아래내용은 최근 '타임지'에 나온 'Milestones in Space'라는 내용을 발최한것입니다.
| 1957 | Oct.4: The Soviet Union launches the first artificial satellite, the 184-lb. Sputnik1 Nov.3: Sputnik 2 carries a dog named Laika into orbit. She lives for seven days, proving that animals (and presumable humans) can survive in space. |
| 1958 | Jan.31: Launch of Explorer 1, the first U.S. satellite |
| 1961 | April 12: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is the first person to orbit Earth. His flight in Vostok 1 lasts less than 2 hr. May 5: Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space, with a 15-min. 28-sec. Suborbital flight aboard Freedom 7. May 25: President John F. Kennedy vows to send men to the moon and back by the end of the decade. |
| 1962 | Feb.20: John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit Earth. He circles the planet three times in 4 hr. 55 min. |
| 1963 | June 16: Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space. |
| 1965 | March 18: Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov takes the first space walk, a 10-min. tethered excursion outside Voskhod 2 June 3: Edward White II is the first American to walk in space, floating outside Gemini 4 for 22 min. |
| 1966 | March 16: Gemini 8 takes the first docking ever with another space vehicle, an unmanned Agena rocket stage. Gemini 8 later malfunctions, forcing America's first emergency landing |
| 1967 | Jan.27: Flash fire in the Apollo 1 command module during a test on the launch pad at Cape Kennedy, FL, kills astronauts Virgil("Gus") Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee April 24: Soyuz 1 crashes on re-entry, killing Vladimir Komarov. He is the first astronaut to die during a flight |
| 1968 | Dec.21: Launch of Apollo 8, the first manned mission to orbit the moon |
| 1969 | July 20: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin walk on the moon |
| 1970 | April 13: Apollo 13 moon mission is aborted when an oxygen tank in the service module ruptures. The crew returns safely to Earth four days later |
| 1971 | April 19: The Soviet Union launches the first space station, an orbiting laboratory named Salyut 1 June 30: Salyut 1's first crew is killed when the spacecraft bringing them back to Earth becomes depressurized during re-entry |
| 1973 | May 14: Skylab 1, the first U.S. space station, is launched into orbit 271 miles above Earth. The first of three crews arrives 11 days later for a 28-day stay |
| 1975 | July 17: The Apollo-Soyuz rendezvous, highlight of the first international manned space mission |
| 1976 | July 20: Viking 1 lands on Mars and transmits the first pictures from the planet's surface. Viking 2 will arrive in September 1976 |
| 1979 | March 5: Voyager 1 makes its closest approach to Jupiter, relaying images of the planet and its moons. Voyager 2 will follow four months later. July 11: After losing altitude for nearly two years, Skylab falls out of the sky and crashes, scattering debris from the southeastern Indian Ocean to western Australia September: Publication of The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe's portrait of the early days of America's manned space program |
| 1981 | April 12: Inaugural launch of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia, the first reusable manned spacecraft Aug.25: Voyager 2 flies by Saturn, sending home spectacularly detailed pictures of its rings and moons |
| 1983 | June 18: Sally Ride becomes the first U.S. woman in space |
| 1984 | Feb.7: Using jet backpacks, astronauts Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart take the first untethered space walks April 10-12: Two astronauts from the shuttle Challenger perform the first in-orbit retrieval and repair mission, on the failing Solar Max satellite. |
| 1986 | Jan.24: Voyager 2 arrives at Uranus Jan.28: Challenger explodes 73 sec. After lift-off, killing all seven shuttle crew members, including teacher Christa McAuliffe Feb.20: Soviet space station Mir launched into Earth orbit |
| 1987 | Feb.8: Mir becomes the first continuously inhabited space station |
| 1988 | Sept.29: First U.S. manned space launch since the 1986 Challenger explosion |
| 1989 | May 4: For the first time, a spacecraft is launched from the shuttle, as Atlantis astronauts send the radar mapping probe Magellan toward Venus Aug.25: Voyager 2 reaches Neptune |
| 1990 | April 25: Astronauts on the shuttle Discovery place the Hubble Space Telescope into Earth orbit. Astronomers realize almost immediately that its mirror has the wrong shape Aug.10: Magellan begins to orbit Venus and relay radar images of its surface as well as other data |
| 1993 | Dec.4-10: Astronauts capture the Hubble Space Telescope and repair its optics. To everyone's surprise, the mission is a complete success |
| 1994 | Feb.3: Sergei Krikalev becomes the first Russian to fly on a U.S. spacecraft |
| 1995 | March 22: Cosmonaut Valery Polyakov returns to Earth after spending a record 437 days 18 hrs. in space aboard Mir June 29: As part of America's 100th manned space mission, the shuttle Atlantis docks with Russia's Mir Dec.7: After a six-year journey, the Galileo probe reaches Jupiter to begin an extended visit |
| 1997 | July 4: In a culmination of the Pathfinder mission, the Sojourner rover lands on Mars and begins to explore. The spacecraft will fall silent 83 days later Oct.15: Nuclear-powered Cassini probe heads to Saturn |
| 1998 | Oct.29: John Glenn, now a 77-year-old Senator from Ohio, is scheduled to go into space a second time, aboard th shuttle Discovery Nov.20: First piece of the International Space Station due to be launched Dec.10: Planned launch of the Mars Climate Orbiter, which will arrive at its destination in September 1999. It will be followed by the Mars Polar Lander, scheduled to be launched in January 1999 |
| 1999 | June: Mir expected to fall out of orbit and crash to Earth |
