LEAVING EARTH TOUGH TASK
LEAVING EARTH, TOUGH TASK Apparently, many of us habitants of this earth ignore how small we are, and how big and amazing is the universe we are part of. ... Traveling around the earth becomes more common and easy as technology advances. ... Joe Kolecki’s “one eight of an inch circle” analogy illustrates how large the scale of the magnitudes for the distances between different locations in the universe is, in his article “"Seeing" the earth, moon, and sun to scale” he states: “The moon is about 1.3 light-seconds away (240,000 miles) [from the earth, and the] sun is 8. ... A scale drawing is not easily made here as it [would be for the earth and moon]. If we chose a 1/8 inch diameter circle to represent the earth, then we would require a circle bigger than one foot in diameter to represent the sun (actual diameter: 864,000 miles). The center of the sun circle would have to be placed about 121 feet from the center of the earth circle! ... Around ten weeks prior to launch, the members of the mission crew begin training with facilities and equipment that simulate the spacecraft, on earth (“Astronaut Training”, 2002). ... Like Jon Krakawer’s experience climbing Mount Everest, man space travel is not an easy task to achieve.