Knowledge Corner

Conquering space
The roots of space exploration lie deep in the history of the world. Ancient astronomers observed points of light that appeared to move among the stars. They called them planets. Even the first rockets owe their origin to the invention of gunpowder in China (10th Century AD). Wernher von Braun was one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology. Von Braun was the leader of the “rocket team” which developed the V2 ballistic missile for the Nazis during World War II. In 1960 Von Braun by then in the US, received the mandate to build the giant Saturn 5 rockets. So he became the chief architect of the Saturn 5 launch vehicle, the super booster that would propel Americans to the Moon. Wernher von Braun is generally regarded as the father of the United States space program.
The early era of space exploration was driven by a “Space race” between the Soviet Union and the United States.
The first artificial satellite to orbit the earth was launched on October 4, 1957 by the USSR. It was called Sputnik 1. Another breakthrough was the landing on the Moon by America's Apollo 11 craft on July 20, 1969. The Soviet space program achieved many of the first milestones, including the first living being in orbit (Liaka), the first human spaceflight (Yuri Gagarin abroad Vostok 1) in 1961, the first spacewalk by Aleksei Leonov in 1965 and the launch of the first Space Station (Salyut 1) in 1971.
Apart from this, the American space program succeeded in launching into orbit Explorer 1 on January 31. The first living creatures that the United States sent into space were two mice, named Benjy and Laska, in 1958; and the first manned landing on another celestial body was performed by Apollo 11 during its lunar landing on July20, 1969. In later years the focus shifted from one-off flights to renewable hardware, such as the Space Shuttle Program, and from competition to cooperation as with the international space station. After the 1990's public interest on space tourism began to grow and then private space exploration of the Moon. At present time NASA is playing the pioneer role in the space program. NASA's chief administrator is Charles Frank Boldon Jr.
FOOD AND FOOD HABIT
Around the world food habits and food customs are colored by ways of living, natural environment, geography, cultures, religions and many more aspects. Foods always reflect the ways of thinking and life style of specific regions.
Different cuisines and food show us different cultures and varieties, though throughout the world now these things are mingling with each other. In our country we eat with our fingers, using bread to scoop up other foods or shaping bite-sized balls of rice in the sauce of another dish
Around the world the common meals are breakfast, lunch and dinner, though it may vary from place to place. In cooking seasoning is the process of imparting flavor to, or improving the flavor of food. They may be done with salt, spiced salt, saltpeter, plain vinegar, peppercorns (fruits of black pepper), cayenne, sugar, honey. We also add condiments and spices. In the Indian subcontinent or in our country we use a special type of spice: Panch phoran, which is a spice blend, literally meaning- five spices, including-methi, kalo jeera, jira, radhuni, mouri, etc.
While the taste of food is limited to sweet, sour, bitter, salty and savory, the basic tastes, the smells of a food are potentially limitless. In Bangladesh food from Puran Dhaka is most famous, and sweetmeats from around the country are remarkable for their diversified tastes. Among all such items, khichuri, biriyani, lassi, morog polao and tehari are most famous.
Pithas can be made any time of the year in Bengal. There are special pithas strongly associated with harvest festivals, such as Nabanna and Poush parbon. Though different fast foods and foreign cuisines are getting place in our daily menu - four main types of Chinese cuisines are popular here - Cantonese, Mandarin, Shanghai and Szechuan. But the taste, of our food still hold us back from having more such food, on a bigger scale more.

Log on to www.champs21.com now to participate in
Brain Brats contest and get questions related to this article!!!