Hawking ‘impressed’ by Russia’s pioneering role in Space Race

Renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking says he was “impressed” when he saw that Russia was “ahead of America in the Space Race” during the Cold War era.

The British scientist made the comments in an interview with the TASS news agency on Monday, referring to Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin who managed to make the first manned mission into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961.

Russians won the first stages of the space exploration when they sent Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite, into an elliptical low Earth orbit on October 4, 1957 but lost the game when their biggest rival, the United States, launched the first successful manned mission to the Moon in 1969.

“The Americans rely on Russia for travel to and from the International Space Station,” Hawking further said, adding that "the future is in such international cooperation."

He said that long term survival of humans on the planet might not be possible due to such threats as nuclear wars, catastrophic global warming, and genetically engineered viruses that target their “continued existence” on the Earth.

“It is important that we are able to escape the boundaries of our fragile planet. We need to spread out into space, and to other stars, so a disaster on Earth would not mean the end of the human race,” Hawking added.

In response to a question about the possibilities of launching manned missions to Mars, or even colonizing it, Hawking said humans would definitely be on the Red Planet within the next 100 years.

“To do this we need investment, allowing us to advance our knowledge, on how to survive the dangers of cosmic radiation, body deterioration, and how to deal with the lack of vital supplies beyond Earth.”

Hawking, who suffers from motor neuron disease for decades, further said that his sole recurring dream is space flight, but it has remained just a dream due to being wheelchair-bound.

“How could I experience the majesty of space, except through imagination, and my work in theoretical physics? I never thought I would have the opportunity, to see our beautiful planet from space, or gaze outward into the infinity beyond. This was the domain of astronauts, the lucky few, who get to experience the wonder and thrill of space flight.”