Yuri Gagarin, the Russian Soviet pilot and cosmonaut became the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961. Neil Armstrong was an American astronaut and the first person to walk on the Moon when he set his left boot on the lunar surface on July 21, 1969, the day he spoke the famous words, “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Whereas Gagarin was born March 9, 1934 and lived for just 34 years having passed away on March 27, 1968 (before Armstrong’s moon walk), Armstrong, on the other hand, lived to be 82 having been born on August 5, 1930 and passed away on August 25, 2012.
Although both men have left the flesh, their names have remained common knowledge owing to the work each represented and epitomised.
Even if their pursuits and projects reflected the power-play between then Soviet Union and the United States in their muscle-flexing on who did what and who went where first, their achievements have remained historic. Yet, in spite of the enormous resources their governments applied into those projects, mankind is still waiting to see the ultimate benefits in the endeavours; meanwhile, space exploration has remained something much talked about by a few in the elite and super-rich class; but mostly imagined by the majority.
For many, it is simply an esoteric venture much too removed from reality; and, as many would ask: human beings have not finished occupying the earth they were graciously given, why struggle to inhabit outer space or the moon?
Still, millions around the world remember Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong’s names, their exploits and their programmes by heart. In fact, millions more recall with little efforts the dates Gagarin journeyed into outer space and Armstrong walked on the moon like their own personal dates of birth!
For many around the world, July 26, 2016 was like any other day – nothing special. Just like all humans wake up every morning without noticing all the special gifts around them, which confirms the self-sufficiency in creation.
But on July 26, 2016 a plane landed in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates like no any other before it. Yet the promise that plane holds, the prospects it carries and the many problems its pioneering work will solve in the years to come will one day make the world give special attention to July 26, 2016 and accord the date a special place in history.
And just as well, not many know or have heard of the names André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard. But it is to the credit of both men that July 26, 2016 gets a chapter in world history. These two are doing for the world what will become the real giant leap for mankind; interestingly they are doing it all on their own!
Solar Impulse! The project these two men have been spearheading since 2003, will turn out to be the confirmation that the Creator’s Work is self-sufficient; man only has to understand, adapt and apply the resources in the right manner.
On 9 March 2015, Piccard and Borschberg began to circumnavigate the globe with Solar Impulse 2, departing from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The aircraft was scheduled to return to Abu Dhabi in August 2015 after a multi-stage journey around the world. By June 2015, the plane had traversed Asia, and in July 2015, it completed the longest leg of its journey, from Japan to Hawaii.
During that leg, the aircraft’s batteries sustained thermal damage that took months to repair. Solar Impulse 2 resumed the circumnavigation in April 2016, when it flew to California. It continued across the United States until it reached New York City in June 2016. Later that month, the aircraft crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Spain.
It stopped in Egypt before returning to Abu Dhabi on 26 July 2016, more than 16 months after it had left, completing the approximately 42,000 kilometre (26,000 mile) first circumnavigation of the Earth by a piloted fixed-wing aircraft using only solar power.
The privately financed project is led by Swiss engineer and businessman André Borschberg and Swiss psychiatrist and aeronaut Bertrand Piccard, who co-piloted Breitling Orbiter 3, the first balloon to circle the world non-stop The Solar Impulse project’s goals were to make the first circumnavigation of the Earth by a piloted fixed-wing aircraft using only solar power and to bring attention to clean technologies.
Reflecting on the goals of the Solar Impulse, Mike Scott wrote in Forbes magazine: “If we can fly around the world using only the power of the sun and the optimisation of energy efficiency technologies, the potential of clean technologies in other applications is immense.”
And Piccard states: “If governments had the courage to promote clean technologies on a massive scale, our society could simultaneously reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, create jobs and stimulate sustainable growth.”
When they landed in Abu Dhabi, Piccard spoke: “The future is clean. The future is you. The future is now. Let’s take it further.”
The 17-stage journey covered 42,000 kilometres, taking in four continents, three seas and two oceans. The longest leg, an 8,924-kilometre (5,545-mile) flight from Nagoya in Japan to Hawaii, US, lasted nearly 118 hours and saw Mr. Borschberg break the absolute world record for longest (time duration) uninterrupted solo flight.
The beauty of the Solar Impulse project is that it is real, it is practical and it is here and now. Whereas space exploration or moon walking appears far too distant, too imaginary for some, and in fact too complicated to deal with, using the sun’s energy for anything that today requires energy can and is already being felt as reality!
It is instructive that the Solar Impulse promoters chose Abu Dhabi as the take-off point, and to where they returned – successfully. The average temperature in Abu Dhabi is 36°C (96°F), with daily sunshine almost all year round. The Middle East generally enjoys lots of sunshine.
And talking about sunshine, isn’t Africa the continent where the sun hardly sets? Now imagine that all the cars in the world run on solar; all household appliances, practically everything that today still runs on fuel or any other form of energy; imagine that all these run on solar energy!
Unlike coal and crude oil beneath the ground, which are hard to find, hard to explore, which in exploring the environment is endangered, human life is put at great risk, and which are depleting resources, the sun – oh the sun! does anything ever diminish the sun? what can affect the sun to either dim its shine or reduce its penetrating and scorching rays?
So if the governments of the then Soviet Union and the Unites States spent unimaginable amounts of resources to put men in space and on the moon, and space exploration has never yet stopped although the direct benefits to mankind are yet to become apparent, imagine that all the resources being wasted today in amassing war arsenals by governments are applied by these governments into actualising projects that have the same objectives like the Solar Impulse rather than leave it to private financing like the two Swiss men are doing!
But while the projects are so promising and the possibilities so real, this is a challenge to governments around the world, but especially in Africa, that solar is the future, and that future is now! Are African nations and those in the Middle East listening? The sun shines perhaps the most in these two regions. Shall we wait till, like in oil, foreigners come to explore our sun’s energy and sell to us?
But that day shall come! And, July 26, 2016 will be etched properly in history; and the names André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard will have their special place as well; and the environment will be the better for it as well.
And then, it shall truly be one real giant leap for mankind! May that day come fast! Thank you, sun shine!