So, at the dawn of the new century, what comes next ?

　

In March 2001, the Russian Space Station Mir re-entered the atmosphere and was destroyed in its fiery descent to the Pacific Ocean, ending a 15-year sojourn in space as the heaviest artificial object to orbit Earth. Does the demise of Mir signify the end of an era for our ventures in space?

　

Undoubtedly, human dreams of reaching the Moon, the stars and those bright planets in the heavens began countless millennia ago. In 1957, the Soviet Union took other nations by surprise by launching the first satellite "Sputnik 1" into space, an event which marked the beginning of the Space Age. Since then, space technology has become a burgeoning industry: In 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in history to orbit the Earth. In 1969, man set foot on the Moon, a celestial body more than 380,000 kilometres away. The last few decades have also witnessed flourishing developments in planetary exploration:  Unmanned automated probes were sent to study far-flung planets such as Uranus and Neptune, which are more than a billion kilometres from us.

Regarding groundbased observation, the largest optical telescopes to date are the twin 10-m Keck Telescopes on Mauna Kea of Hawaii.

　

The Russian Space Station "Mir" has become history. It will soon be succeeded by the International Space Station "Alpha", a multinational project that involves 16 nations. When completed in 2005, "Alpha" will be the largest space research facility orbiting our planet.

　

	The latest Sky Show "New Frontiers of Space Exploration" reveals our tenacious quest to better understand the Universe at the turn of the century. From the International Space Station that is now being assembled in orbit, to the possible manned Mars mission in two decades time, you will be thrilled by the ingenuity and excitement of the latest space exploration activities.
	The space probe "Mars Odyssey" will arrive at the red planet in October 2001. Its primary missions are to locate water sources, scour the Martian landscape and assess the radiation environment on the planet.

　

In 2004, the space probe "Cassini" will begin its 4-year mission of observing the planet Saturn. Cassini will release a probe called "Huygens" that will enter the atmosphere of Titan, the largest satellite of Saturn, and may even attempt a landing on Titan's surface.

Duration: 40 minutes