The journey from Earth to space was a long one—and not just the flight. Before that, there were the theories, the calculations, the experiments, the training, and more. Thousands of individuals helped along the way, and they all provide inspiration to the rest of us as we dream about reaching the stars—literally or figuratively. Here are the stories of just three of those space explorers.
Edwin Hubble
Edwin Hubble never went to space himself, but his work in the field of extragalactic astronomy helped us explore further out into the universe than ever before.
Born November 20, 1889, Hubble attended high school in Chicago, Illinois, and attended the University of Chicago on an academic scholarship, graduating in 1910. After graduation, Hubble attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar to study law. From there, he spent time practicing law; teaching high school Spanish, math, and physics; and even coaching basketball before deciding to return to the University of Chicago—this time to study astronomy.
Not long after completing his astronomy degree, Hubble was recruited by the director of the Mount Wilson Observatory, George Ellery Hale. Hubble immediately accepted the job offer, but there was a big problem: World War I was underway. Determined to join the fight, Hubble rushed to finish his dissertation in the spring of 1917 so that he could enlist in the US Army. Luckily, Hale must have thought Hubble was the perfect candidate, because he held the position at the observatory open for him for until the end of the war. With the war over and his graduate studies complete, Hubble finally settled into his new job. It didn’t take long for it to become clear that he was on the cusp of some groundbreaking discoveries.
First, while measuring the luminosity of Cepheid variable stars (a type of star which pulses at a regular rate, making them useful for calculating distances between objects in space), Hubble was able to prove that there were other galaxies outside our very own Milky Way. (At the time, scientists widely believed the Milky Way made up the entire universe.)
Later, in the 1920s, Hubble began looking into these other galaxies, examining their spectral shifts and unique distances in relation to Earth. He and fellow astronomer Milton Humason published their research in 1929, theorizing that the galaxies were moving away from each other. Hubble also developed a classification system, known as the Hubble sequence, that allows us to categorize new-found galaxies.
The sum of Hubble’s work revolutionized the way we understand our universe. In fact, it’s said Albert Einstein himself visited Hubble in person to thank him for the way his research provided physical evidence to support the theory of general relativity.
Though Hubble never left Earth’s atmosphere, his research allowed him to glean important insights into the cosmos. In reward, Hubble was honored with the Franklin Medal for physics, a gold medal from the Royal Astronomical Society, and the fact that NASA named its Hubble Space Telescope (launched in 1990) after him. He also received a Medal of Merit for his service in the armed forces, for good measure.
Valentina Tereshkova
The most famous woman to go to space is probably Sally Ride, an American who left the atmosphere in 1983. But the first woman to accomplish that feat was Valentina Tereshkova, who made the flight a full twenty years earlier, in 1963.
Tereshkova was born in rural Russia in 1937. She wasn’t marked from success at the start: her parents were farmers, and she actually left school at age 16 to work in a mill. But she also realized a love of parachuting, making over 150 jumps, according to the Smithsonian.
She was also lucky to write to the Soviet space center just as they were planning to create a group of women cosmonauts (which is what the Soviets called their astronauts). After two years of training, Tereshkova entered orbit, flying around Earth forty-five times in the Vostok 6. Even more amazing? She was only twenty-six at the time!
Tereshkova’s career didn’t slow down after that, either—though she did stay on Earth (mostly). After her trip to space, she graduated from the Zhuykosky Air Force Engineering Academy and earned a degree in Technical Science. Then she began a political career. She held a number of offices in the Soviet Union, and was subsequently elected to the Duma (the Russian legislature) in 2011.
Her taste for space hasn’t disappeared though. “If I had money, I would enjoy flying to Mars,” she said when she turned seventy. “This was the dream of the first cosmonauts. I wish I could realize it! I am ready to fly without coming back.”
Ronald McNair
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite into orbit, and a seven-year-old Ronald McNair was captivated. From that day forward, he closely followed the space programs of both the Soviet Union and the United States. In school, this passion for space fueled his academic success, especially in science and math. Graduating valedictorian of his class, McNair headed to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina.
In 1971, McNair completed his undergraduate program with a degree in physics and a scholarship to further his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). While conducting PhD research on specialized laser physics, his results were stolen, putting his doctorate in jeopardy. But McNair was resilient, managing to produce a second set of data in a year, and earning his PhD in physics in 1976.
While working as a physicist for Hughes Research Laboratories, McNair heard that NASA was looking for scientists to join the shuttle program. Of course, he applied, and out of the eleven thousand applicants, McNair was one of the thirty-five who were selected for the program in 1978. A few years of training later, McNair was chosen as a mission specialist for the STS-41B mission of the Space Shuttle Challenger on February 3, 1984, operating a robotic arm that assisted astronauts during untethered space walks.
Early that next year, McNair was again headed to space as a crewmember for the STS-51L Challenger mission. This time, however, the mission ended in tragedy before it barely began. After many launch delays, Challenger finally launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 28, 1986. Just a minute and thirteen seconds into the launch, the shuttle exploded, with all seven crew members, including McNair, losing their lives.