Overview: Exploration and Discovery 1950-present

The human motivation for exploration has always been clear: hope for national and individual profit or acclaim, the simple gratification of geographical curiosity, and the discovery and identification of the unknown. While these motives were still present in the twentieth century, fundamental developments in technology began to change the character of exploration.

Two significant discoveries propelled twentieth-century exploration to new heights—literally. In 1903 the historic flight of the Wright brothers ushered in a new era of technology, and with it new possibilities in exploration. Around the same time, American inventor Robert Goddard (1882-1945) began experimenting with rocket propulsion. In a 1920 technical report for the Smithsonian, Goddard outlined how a rocket might reach the moon. The scientific community labeled him a crackpot, but his report became the foundation for the early rocket program of the Nazi military, which made further advancements in rocket science during World War II. Goddard's rocketry research led to numerous patents and paved the way for modern rocket technology that would launch the first man-made satellites—and ultimately the first humans—into space in the second half of the twentieth century.

Expeditions into the skies above Earth became more than just science fiction in the second half of the twentieth century. Space, the ultimate mystery, the final frontier, became a little more familiar with the launching of unmanned probes, satellites, and manned space flights. From Sputnik (the first satellite rocketed into space in 1957) to Apollo 11 (the first manned space flight to land on the moon in 1969), and Salyut 1 (the first space station, inhabited in 1971), man proved he was not content with exploring Earth's surface and oceans.

The achievements of scientists, astronauts, and technicians toward solving the mysteries of outer space were extensive in the later twentieth century. The space race, set off by the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, witnessed the development of satellites, the first man in space—Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968), launched into orbit in April 1961—and a 14-year experimental space station, Mir, launched in 1986 and scheduled for decommissioning in early 2000. And in yet another triumph of technology, the U.S. Space Shuttle program, in operation since 1981, proved reliable space transportation was feasible.

While scientists and astronauts explored space, other men and women were conquering some of the last known frontiers on Earth—its mountains, oceans, and atmosphere. Two noteworthy exploration firsts occurred in the skies over Earth. In 1986 the first nonstop, unrefueled aerial circumnavigation of the world was completed in the Voyager aircraft, piloted by Americans Dick Rutan (1939- ) and Jeana Yeager (1952- ). In 1999, the first nonstop, unrefueled balloon circumnavigation of the world was completed in the Breitling Orbiter 3, piloted by British aviator Brian Jones (1947- ) and Swiss aviator Bertrand Piccard (1958- ). On Earth's surface, in 1953, the world's highest peak, Mount Everest, was finally conquered by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary (1919- ) and a Nepalese sherpa named Tenzing Norgay (1916-1986).

Mountains and landmasses comprise only 30 percent of the Earth's surface. The oceans cover the other seven-tenths. Deep-sea exploration requires mastery of the same skills used in geographical exploration; knowledge of the principles of biology, chemistry, geology, and physics; as well as extensive assistance from the technological realms of engineering and shipbuilding. In the later half of the twentieth century, ocean exploration was conducted for both knowledge and wealth. In 1960 Jacques Piccard (1922- )—father of Bertrand Piccard—and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Donald Walsh (1931- ) piloted the bathyscaphe Trieste to a record depth of 35,800 feet in the Mariana Trench, nearly seven miles below the ocean's surface. Other underwater adventures were undertaken by submarines—notably the 1958 journey beneath the ice of the North Pole by the U.S.S. Nautilus and the 1960 submerged circumnavigation of the globe by the U.S.S. Triton.

With the assistance of new technological tools, twentieth-century explorers were able to make more detailed surveys of Earth's surface, explore the depths of the ocean and Earth's interior, and voyage to the Moon and stars, as the quest for the unknown extended beyond Earth. While these expeditions to discover and catalog the last unknowns of Earth's physical attributes were conducted, other explorers of a different nature—namely anthropologists, archaeologists, and even treasure hunters—continued their investigations into the origins of humans, examining past civilizations and their cultural distinctions. The wealth and culture of former civilizations were more fascinating to some twentieth-century discoverers than the land or sea itself.

While some ocean adventures had been undertaken for science and national pride, other deep-sea expeditions were motivated by fascination with maritime history, particularly the search for ships and cargoes that sank long ago. In the 1970s Dutch East India Company vessels were discovered, yielding priceless historical artifacts as well as silver, porcelain, and other relics. Ships from the Spanish Armada have also been found, including the warship Girona in 1967, and the galleon Atocha in 1985. In 1984, the discovery of the pirate ship Whydah yielded over 200,000 artifacts. In 1985 the Titanic was located and in the 1990s salvage missions were undertaken to her resting place. The fortunes aboard these vessels were valuable in terms of financial and cultural wealth, making such expeditions into the ocean deep a worthwhile enterprise for deep-sea explorers.

Similarly, a number of significant discoveries pertaining to ancient civilizations were made on land in the second half of the twentieth century. From artifacts of ancient man of the Paleolithic age to ancient Greek and Central American civilizations, scientists and explorers in the late twentieth century brought to light hundreds of thousands of cultural relics. In 1994 cave surveyors discovered paintings on the walls of the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc cave near Avignon, France. The paintings were radiocarbon-dated between 30,300 and 32,000 years old. In 1974 Chinese peasants unearthed a site containing 7,000 life-size terra-cotta soldier figures near the tomb of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang (259?-210? BC).

Less haphazard and more formal excavations of early civilizations have been conducted in search of wealth and knowledge for several centuries. In the early part of the twentieth century, archaeologists digging in countries such as Egypt and Greece uncovered artifacts whose study returned vital truths of their origins. The discovery by Sir Arthur Evans (1851-1941) of the ancient Greek civilization of King Minos on the island of Crete and of the mysterious writings used by its people led to the decipherment in 1952 of Mycenaean Linear B script by Michael Ventris (1922-1956), assisted by John Chadwick (1920-1998). In the 1980s and early 1990s, Linda Schele (1942-1998) and Peter Mathews (1951- ), among others, decoded other ancient hieroglyphic writings from Mayan ruins in Guatemala and other Central American countries.

As mankind enters the twenty-first century, our explorations of Earth and its skies will be ever influenced by the technologies that make them possible. Further space exploration, for example—which may include human exploration of the planets and celestial bodies closest to Earth, such as Mars, Venus, and Jupiter's moons—will be tied to scientific experimentation and studies at the International Space Station, which is scheduled to be completed in 2004. Space study has also drawn new attention to the fragility of Earth itself, our only known habitable planet. Global environmental research and exploration, therefore, will naturally be important to the survival of mankind. Scientific studies of worldwide phenomena such as deforestation, desertification, acid rain, land degradation, and water and energy deficiencies will rely on developing technological tools, as will space pioneers and explorers of the last mysterious regions on Earth.

ANN T. MARSDEN