INTRODUCTION
1.2_ B A C K G R O U N D _The Space Race Space is quickly becoming the new frontier to be explored by national governments and private sectors. In the process, these different parties are preparing themselves for an environment with the same competition and collaboration that can typically be found on Earth. Historically the Space-race began in August 1955 when the Soviet Union responded to the USA’s announcement of their intention to launch artificial satellites for the upcoming International Geophysical Year (History.com Editors, 2020).
A TRAINING FACILITY FOR ASTRONAUTS FROM THE NATIONAL AND PRIVATE SECTOR SPACE AGENCIES LOCATED IN SUTHERLAND, SOUTH AFRICA
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The Soviet Union achieved an early lead in the race when it launched the first artificial satellite named “Sputnik One” and “Sputnik Two” – the first satellite to carry a living animal in 1957. In the same year the USA suffered a terrible loss and critical step back with their experimental rocket “Vanguard One” when it exploded on the launch pad. The back-and-forth race between the USA and Soviet Russia became a remarkable point in history and became one of the biggest races known today. In the following two years the USA and Soviet Russia celebrated great leaps in advancement in technology and successful launches of satellites. Along with the technological advances came better equipment that could better map Space and communicate with equipment on Earth. This in turn, meant that scientists and astronomers could now start to obtain better readings and imagery from satellites in Earth’s Orbit. Humankind celebrated with Vanguard 2 when it successfully measured cloud cover and sent back the first attempted photo of Earth from a satellite; the constant motion resulted in difficulty interpreting the data. Soviet Russia made a big stride for-
ward with Luna 3 as it was the first mission to photograph the far side of the Moon in 1959. In these two years Soviet Russia and USA kept on trying to compete in the Space-race, but the true leap came from the Soviet Union on the 12th of September 1959, when they had the first Spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon. This was also the first human-made object to land on another celestial body (NASA, n.d.). The USA gained back some lead in the race with the success of “Explorer Six” which included an instrument to study particles and meteorology. The success of “Pioneer P-3” with the Lunar orbiter probe as a
