50 years ago today… April 5, 1961

50 years ago today, Soviet air force pilot Lt. Yuri A. Gagarin didn’t know he would become be the first human into space in just a week’s time. Gagarin and his colleagues, Gherman Titov and Grigori Nelyubov, were all in training for the first flights of the Vostok spacecraft, but the Soviet leadership had not yet formally authorized the flight nor assigned a cosmonaut. What’s more, the United States was racing to put a man in space as well, and although they lagged behind the Soviet Union, a surprise was still possible. Each man trained for the upcoming flight, now only a week away,  as if he would be the pilot.

On April 5, 1961, the cosmonauts flew to the launch centre with their medical team and a film crew. They are greeted by Sergei Korolev, the mastermind behind the Soviet space program. Korolev pushes for a decision on who will fly first, to no avail. General Kaminin, the man in charge of cosmonaut selection and training, will not make a final decision yet. That night, three young cosmonauts go to sleep, not knowing which of them will soon become the most famous person in the world.

If you’re like me, we probably look back on your elementary school days with a mixture of nostalgia and dread. Yes, your hair really was that bad back then! However, there were likely some standout moments as well. For me, it was the annual science fair – the time of the year it was OK to be a science geek. I remember the brainstorming for topics, the hand-lettered backboards with pencil crayon drawings, the obligatory volcano and solar system model made of Styrofoam balls. For me, the science fair led me to a career in science communication – now I have a nicer backboard and better pencil crayons, but essentially I get to do science fairs every day!

If you head outside a half-hour after sunset this week, you can spot the largest and smallest* planets in our solar system right next to each other. The giant planet Jupiter is just ending its months-long appearance in the sky, slipping slowly down towards the sun. This week, the tiny planet Mercury is moving upwards from the horizon, putting in a quick appearance before also disappearing into the sun’s glare. On March 14 and 15, the two planets will be about 2 degrees apart – that’s only about the width of four full moons in the sky. They’ll easily fit into the field of view of pretty much any household binoculars.

If you watch them from night to night, you’ll see the clockwork dance of the heavens: Mercury and Jupiter will change their relative positions from night to night, not just due to their own motion but that of our planet as well. The ground you’re standing on is part of this ballet, orbiting the sun along with Mercury and Jupiter.

The best nights to see this are March 14th and 15th, but Mercury should still be visible for another week or so after that. SkyNews Magazine rates this one of the top 11 celestial events this year.

*Yes, Mercury is the smallest planet which orbits the Sun; Pluto is still a “dwarf planet” along with Eris and Ceres.

The space shuttle Discovery is on the pad right now, awaiting its launch at 3:50 pm Central time. Discovery’s flight has been delayed several times, most recently due to cracks in the massive external fuel tank. The cracks were repaired and strengthened, and the tank has been fueled and is holding pressure, so it looks like it was the right decision. We’ll be updating this blog throughout the preparations for launch.

50 years ago today, during the height of the Cold War, Americans and Russians were head-to-head in a competition to put the first human into space. At the same time, both nations were trying to send robotic probes to the Moon and the other planets. On February 3, 1961 (in North American time zones), the Soviet Union launches a four-stage version of their R-7 rocket. Earlier versions of the R-7 had launched Sputnik and the dog Laika, the first living being to orbit the Earth. With the added fourth stage, the target this time was the planet Venus. The Venera series of robotic probes would eventually land on Venus and provide the first images of its cloud-shrouded surface, but in 1961 the rockets were not up to the task yet.

The R-7 launched into a starry sky, and performed flawlessly throughout its first three stages. The new fourth stage, however, failed to ignite, and the probe remained in Earth orbit. To cover up the failure, the Soviets called the mission “Sputnik 7” and said it was only a test of a heavier spacecraft design, the Iron Curtain equivalent of “I meant to do that”.

Despite being a failed space mission, the launch did prove to the Americans that the Soviet Union could place an 8-tonne payload into orbit – and therefore, could also lob an 8-tonne H-bomb to hit any target in the world.

We’re deep in the installation of our upcoming exhibit, “Cosmomania: The Great Space Adventure”. Here are a few images from the exhibit, which opens February 4 and is FREE to the public (thank you to the Canadian Space Agency for supporting its cross-Canada tour).