A Short History of the Soviet and Russian Space Program

A Short History of the Soviet and Russian Space Program The modern age of space exploration exists largely because of the actions of two countries who competed to get the first people on the Moon: the United States and the former Soviet Union. Today, space exploration efforts include more than 70 countries with research institutes and space agencies. However, only a few of them have launch capability, the three largest being NASA in the United States, Roscosmos in the Russian Federation, and the European Space Agency. Most people know of the U.S.s space history, but the Russian efforts occurred largely in secrecy for many years, even when their launches were public. Only in recent decades has the full story of the countrys space exploration been revealed through detailed books and talks by former cosmonauts.   The Age of Soviet Exploration Begins The history of Russias space efforts starts with World War II. At the end of that huge conflict, German rockets and rocket parts were captured by both the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Both countries had dabbled in rocket science before that.  Robert Goddard in the U.S. had launched that countrys first rockets. In the Soviet Union, engineer Sergei Korolev had experimented with rockets, too. However, the chance to study and improve upon Germanys designs was attractive to both countries and they entered into the Cold War of the 1950s each striving to outdo the other into space. Not only did the U.S. bring over rockets and rocket parts from Germany, but they also transported a number of German rocket scientists to help with the fledgling National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and its programs. The Soviets  captured rockets and German scientists, too, and eventually began experimenting with animal launches in the early 1950s, although none reached space. Yet, these were the first steps in the space race and set both countries on a headlong rush off Earth. The Soviets won the first round of that race when they put Sputnik 1 into orbit on October 4, 1957. It was a huge win for Soviet pride and propaganda and a major kick in the pants for the fledgling U.S. space effort. The Soviets followed up with the launch of the first man into space, Yuri Gagarin, in 1961. Then, they sent the first woman in space (Valentina Tereshkova, 1963) and did the first spacewalk, performed by Alexei Leonov in 1965. It looked very much like the Soviets might score the first man to the Moon, too. However, problems piled up and pushed back their lunar missions due to technical problems. Disaster in Soviet Space Disaster struck the Soviet program and gave them their first big setback. It happened in 1967 when cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov  was killed when the parachute that was supposed to settle his Soyuz 1 capsule gently on the ground failed to open. It was the first in-flight death of a man in space in history and a great embarrassment to the program. Problems continued to mount with the Soviet N1 rocket, which also set back planned lunar missions. Eventually, the U.S. beat the Soviet Union to the Moon, and the country turned its attention to sending unmanned probes to the Moon and Venus. After the Space Race In addition to its planetary probes, the Soviets got very interested in orbiting space stations, particularly after the U.S. announced (and then later canceled) its Manned Orbiting Laboratory. When the U.S. announced Skylab, the Soviets eventually built and launched the Salyut station. In 1971, a crew went to Salyut and spent two weeks working aboard the station. Unfortunately, they died during the return flight due to a pressure leak in their Soyuz 11 capsule. Eventually, the Soviets solved their Soyuz issues and the Salyut years led to a joint cooperation project with NASA on the Apollo Soyuz project. Later on, the two countries cooperated on a series of Shuttle-Mir dockings, and the building of the International Space Station (and partnerships with Japan and the European Space Agency). The Mir Years The most successful space station built by the Soviet Union flew from 1986 through 2001. It was called Mir and assembled on orbit (much as the later ISS was). It hosted a number of crew members from the Soviet Union and other countries in a show of space cooperation. The idea was to keep a long-term research outpost in low-Earth orbit, and it survived many years until its funding was cut. Mir is the only space station that was built by one countrys regime and then run by the successor to that regime. It happened when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991 and formed the Russian Federation. Regime Change The Soviet space program faced interesting times as Union began to crumble in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Instead of the Soviet space agency, Mir and its Soviet cosmonauts (who became Russian citizens when the country changed) came under the aegis of Roscosmos, the newly formed Russian space agency. Many of the design bureaus that had dominated space and aerospace design were either shut down or reconstituted as private corporations. The Russian economy went through major crises, which affected the space program. Eventually, things stabilized and the country moved ahead with plans to participate in the International Space Station, plus resume launches of weather and communications satellites. Today, Roscosmos has weathered changes in the Russian space industrial sector and is moving ahead with new rocket designs and spacecraft. It remains part of the ISS consortium and has announced Instead of the Soviet space agency, Mir and its Soviet cosmonauts (who became Russian citizens when the country changed) came under the aegis of Roscosmos, the newly formed Russian Space Agency. It has announced interest in future lunar missions and is working on new rocket designs and satellite updates. Eventually, the Russians would like to go to Mars, as well, and continue solar system exploration.

Free sample - Brand and Customer Behavior literature review. translation missing

Brand and Customer Behavior literature review. Brand and Customer Behavior literature reviewBrand and Customer Behavior in the contemporary corporate world has received a lot of attention and debate on whether the former affects the latter. As a matter of fact, there have been so many questions seeking to establish whether brands have any effect to the customer behavior. In regard to literature by Glynn (2009, p.97), brand is a market based asset which largely shapes the behavior of a customer. Arguably, brands are advertised so that they may influence the behavior of the customers. In some cases, customers have purchased products owing to the brand. For instance, a car that is branded with a brand reflecting status and reputation may influence a customer to purchase the car brand seeking to get the prestige promised by the brand. On the other hand, brands have effect on the customer behavior (Kumar, 2008). He supports this by presenting detailed information on brand attitude which is the attitude toward a brand by a customer. This attitude is attributed to the brand trust and effect altogether. The former refers to the customer’s willingness to trust the brand to satisfy his or her needs while the latter has to do with customer’s emotional response towards a brand. This makes it possible to generate an emotion toward the customer’s preference of the brand for use (p.193). Further in this context, Wilburn (2006) has examined in detail the factors that affect as well as shape customer’s behavior. As a matter of fact, he points out to brand image as the mental picture formed by a customer towards a brand. In this case, brand has been pointed out as to provide a customer with a reason to purchase a product in place of another. Traditionally, Wilburn (2006, p.2-3) states that brand images have been in use as a method of influencing customer behavior and as well acquisition of new customers of a product. Arguably Salver (2009, p.92-93), has provided literature on the effect that brand has on the customers. In this context, brand image has been associated with an ability to bind consumers on the basis of emotion and thus customers going for the very brands. Brand images have also been cited as powerful tools for establishing loyalty of the customer to the particular brand. From this point of view, it is evident from literature that there have been an academic background regarding brand and customer behavior which has previously tried to answer the research question whether brands affect the customer/ consumer behavior.      References Glynn, MS 2009, Business-to-business brand management: theory, research and executive case study exercises, Emerald Group Publishing, Bingley. Kumar, V 2008, Managing customers for profit: strategies to increase profits and build loyalty, Wharton School Publishing, New Jersey. Salver, J 2009, Brand Management in the Hotel Industry and Its Potential for Achieving Customer Loyalty, GRIN Verlag, Norderstedt. Wilburn, M 2006, Managing the customer experience: a measurement-based approach, American Society for Qualit, Wisconsin.

President Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

President - Assignment Example The cuts and spending are provided in the succeeding section. There should be a reduction in international affairs by 15%. Spending on general government, natural resources and environment, energy, veterans’ benefits, and general science should also be reduced by 15%, 15%, 10%, 2.5% and 20% respectively. On the other hand, I propose a 20% increase in spending on military operations. Additionally, transportation, education, health, and administration of justice should each have a 5 percent increase in spending. Lastly, community and regional development should have a 2.5% increase in spending. The budget deficit will be $199 billion hence an improvement in the capacity of the country to meet its budgeting demands. An increase in spending on defense will ensure that the country’s security situation is enhanced. Terrorists especially the al Qaeda group have been targeting the country for a very long time. There will also be an improvement in infrastructure, quality of employee skills, health, distribution of national resources, and administration of justice as a result of the increased spending in the respective areas. On the other hand, the hand will experience strained relationships with developing nations as a result of reduced spending on international

Project management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Project management - Assignment Example Team functionality and consequent performance depends on various collaboration aspects that are designed to enhance the realization of the project objectives. Communication is a fundamental aspect in the undertaking of a project that engages team work. There should be a clear flow of information from the team leader to the members and vice versa. This flow is designed to maintain a consistent system through which all players in the team are kept posted to emerging issues and expected trends in the project (Gowen, 2007). Team efficacy is highly influenced by modes and means of communication within and without the team. It is important that each member contributes to the design, formulation and implementation of a communication process that is properly suited to the specific variables of the project being undertaken. Running of a project is not always at par with the expectations. However, with effective communications designs, it easier for the entire team to deal with emerging challe nges in the process. The team encompasses diverse and dynamic reasoning, knowledge and skills. Project undertakings also require that balanced collaboration be observed if the desired results are to be achieved. For this reason, the team cannot avoid discussions and decision making at both individual and team level. This requires that effective communication among all stakeholders. ... Team coordination of project phases is characterized by numerous activities. These activities call for decision making from time to time, across every stakeholder. With proper communications designs, negotiations fall into place. Negotiations encompass critical evaluation and assessment of scenarios that need to accounted for as different project activities unfold. Negotiations are designed to bring on board different views of every person involved, so that what is decided upon binds to every team participant. Negotiation in the team level aims to bring to terms all the individual duties and responsibilities, so that what is achieved reflects a team effort. Although the team is made up of a number of players, each player’s contribution counts in the overall success or failure of the team. On the same note, the different players are divided in accordance to their specialization, prior to the activities that need to be undertaken, and the duties and responsibilities that need to be met. Therefore, the team operates in functional areas that range from management and leadership, finance, operations and human resource (Bollen, 2009). The interaction of these parties must encompass proper negotiations, so that in case anything goes wrong in the process, a blame game does not emerge. In such an instance, these functional areas engage in discussions, evaluations and assessments that account for misconducts realized if any. Team performance is highly dependent on the meetings aspect. Meetings are inevitable at all decision making levels. From the time the team is being formed to the completion of the project, meetings play an essential role in uniting all

New Challenges for Africa and the Islamic World Essay Example for Free

New Challenges for Africa and the Islamic World Essay * Songhai flourished during the 1400s and 1500s, with an empire stretching 1500 miles east to west. (from Gao to the Niger River) a. Timbuktu * Timbuktu became a major center for trans-Saharan trade. Large supplies of gold, ivory, and slaves were sent abroad. * Timbuktu was a major center of Islamic scholarship, in particular because of the Islamic University of Sankore. * Civil war over succession weakened the empire which was then destroyed by Moroccan forces. B. Other West African States * The small Sudanic kingdoms that formed after the fall of Songhai were parts of a closely linked commercial network. * For example, the Dyula moved goods by donkey and canoe, dominating the regional trade. * A few non-Muslim states, including those of the Guinea Coast, had a matrilineal social structure. a. The Kanem-Bornu Kingdom * The Islamic kingdom of Kanem-Bornu prospered from trans-Saharan trade and reached its height under king Idrus Aloma. a. The Hausa and the Trans-Saharan Trade * The Hausa had trade-oriented states in modern-day Chad, eastern Niger, and Nigeria where cotton cloth and leatherwork were manufactured for export. * Islam became dominant, but women continued to play vital social and political roles. b. Trade on the Guinea Coast * A few non-Muslim states, including those of the Guinea Coast and Volta River basin, had a matrilineal social structure, and prospered from mining and trading in gold to the north. c. Europeans in West Africa * Portuguese encountered such large trading centers as the one at Guinala, (Guinea Bissau), where 12,000 men and women met weekly to trade. C. Bantu Trading Cities and Kingdoms (East) * Bantu settlers and Arab immigrants formed the Swahili culture. * The Swahili city-states grew wealthy by trading in African goods to peoples from around the Indian Ocean. a. Trade on the East African Coast * Swahili city-states were parts of the great trading network generally dominated by seafaring Arabs and Indian Muslims. d. The Shona and the Ganda * The Shona exported gold and ivory through the city of Sofala to the Middle East and India. * The Ganda people established the kingdom of Buganda west of Lake Victoria and Buganda dominated the region by the 1700s. e. The Kingdom of Kongo * In the Congo River basin, the Bantu kingdom of Kongo became one of the first great African states to be visited by European explorers. * The kingdoms of Luba and Lunda resisted European power into the nineteenth century. f. The Xhosa and the Zulu * The Xhosa and Zulu were the main Bantu-speaking groups to migrate into southern Africa. D. Africa in the Hemispheric System * Sub-Saharan Africans lacked interregional connections. * Sub-Saharan African was cut off from European and Asian trade. * Marginally fertile soils, scarce exploitable minerals, and few good harbors impeded development in Sub-Saharan Africa. a. Africa the Unknown * West and East Africa supplied gold, ivory, and other commodities to the Middle East and Europe for centuries. * The remaining Amharic Christians in modern-day Ethiopia were surrounded by Muslims and essentially cut off from contact with Europe. g. The Opening of Africa * Europeans set out to penetrate â€Å"Darkest Africa† with the â€Å"light† of the West, while also looking for direct routes to Asian spices and silk. * Africans were shocked and dismayed upon first sighting Europeans. h. The Beginning of the African Slave Trade * Europeans looked for slaves after setting up in the Americas. * Slavery had a long tradition in Africa, which involved Muslim traders. * Europeans already had enslaved their own peoples, though not with a racialized reason. II. EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM AND THE TRANS-ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE * Racism developed from early exploitative relationships forged by Portuguese and Dutch adventurers along the two coasts of Africa and in its southern reaches. A. The Portuguese and African Encounters * By the late 1400s the Portuguese had colonized the Cape Verde Islands and the nearby coastal region of Guinea-Bissau. * They also established a long relationship of cooperation with the prosperous Kongo kingdom of south central Africa and sent Catholic missionaries. a. Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco de Gama * In 1487 Bartholomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope and the Indian Ocean. Vasco da Gama established relations with East African Swahili trading cities. * In India, European goods could not compete with more valuable and finer products from India, China, Indonesia, and Persia. Da Gama had finally located the sea route to the east. * The Portuguese set up a network of trading bases around the Indian Ocean, and tried to limit the activity of their Arab, Ottoman, Persian, and Indian rivals. i. The Portuguese and the Kongo * The Christian King Alfonso I, a Portuguese ally, controlled the Kongo and attempted to emulate Portugal by expansion and modernization. * Slavery soured Portuguese-Kongolese relations. j. Queen Nzinga and African Resistance * After Alfonso’s death, the Portuguese conquered Kongo and Ndongo. Kongolese and Ndongo warriors were no match for Portuguese armies. Queen Nzinga of Ndongo strongly resisted the Portuguese. * Kongolese Christian kings appealed to the Pope to halt the slave raids. The Kongolese kings allied with the Dutch to curb Portuguese influence. Kongo endured civil wars, which led to the capture of more slaves. * Portuguese forces occupied several major Swahili trading cities. They eventually controlled several trading ports from the Persian Gulf to China. They used brutal methods to achieve their ends. k. The Decline of Portuguese Influence * Portuguese influence waned on the East Coast of Africa by the 17th century after they destroyed much of the trade by dissuading merchants to venture to the cities they nominally controlled. * In the late 1600s, Arabs from Oman pushed the Portuguese out. E. New Challenges for the Shona States and Ethiopia (East) * The Portuguese controlled the lower Zambezi Valley in order to dominate the gold trade. * They also moved up the Zambezi River and ended up controlling the largest Shona state of Monomotopa. * They also settled coastal Mozambique and mixed culturally, often through intermarriage. a. Ethiopian Civil War * The Portuguese forces assisted Ethiopians against their Muslim neighbors. * Jesuit missionaries converted Ethiopian king to Catholicism. * Attempts to change the Ethiopian Church did not succeed, and the missionaries and other Portuguese were expelled. F. South Africa and Dutch Colonization * Dutch settlers in Cape Town traded with the Khoikhoi, but then seized their land. They enslaved or killed all the Khoikhoi living near the Cape, then imposed white rule over Africans. * Slaves were imported from Madagascar, Mozambique, and Indonesia. * As the economy developed, Africans and Asians outnumbered whites. a. The Boers and â€Å"trekking† * Some Dutch settlers, or Boers, moved eastward to escape governmental control and look for new land to settle. * The Boers tried to take over Xhosa and Zulu lands. G. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade * Europeans enslaved Africans to fulfill their labor needs in the Americas on plantations and in mines. * Physical differences established racial basis of trans-Atlantic slavery. a. The Slave Trade Expands * West Africa was fragmented, which made it vulnerable to slave trading. The Europeans established trading forts from Senegal to Angola. * The Europeans traded cotton goods, guns, iron, rum, and tobacco for slaves. The Europeans often cooperated with local African chiefs to obtain slaves. * The exact number of enslaved Africans is uncertain, but it probably totaled 25 to 30 million individuals. The trans-Atlantic slave trade reached its peak between 1700 and 1800. l. Horrors of the Middle Passage * Slaves were branded, chained together, and packed into overcrowded slave ships. * Many slaves committed suicide before reaching the Americas, so slavers installed nets along the sides of slave ships to catch jumpers. There were also many attempted mutinies en route. * The majority of slaves were sold to plantations without regard to personal ties. m. Rationalizing the Slave Trade * Europeans justified slavery by claiming that Africans were inherently inferior. * Some Westerners argued that slavery benefited Africans by exposing them to Western culture, values, and religion. H. The Slave Trade and African Societies * Some coastal regions of West and Central Africa succumbed to chronic raiding, kidnapping, and warfare. * Some societies were particularly destabilized when huge numbers were enslaved. * Out of these patterns of human enslavement emerged the Atlantic System. a. The Impact of the Slave Trade on Africa * Some African societies prospered by selling neighboring peoples into slavery. The kings of Benin obtained firearms by trading cotton textiles, pepper, ivory, and beads, and prohibited the sale of male slaves. * States such as Dahomey prospered by cooperating with the slave traders. Coastal regions from Senegambia down to Angola suffered the most (ex. family damage.) * The trans-Atlantic slave trade created economic imbalances that hindered the evolution of local industries, though African societies arguably benefited from the introduction of peanuts and corn. n. Early Imperialism and Colonialism in Africa * Europeans practiced imperialism and colonialism in Africa. * The scramble for Africa intensified with industrialization in Europe. Western industrialization helped end the slave trade, but accelerated the need for African natural resources.

The Lion, The witch and the wardrobe Essay examples -- essays research

The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe By C.S. Lewis The four childeren, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy had to stay at the home of a professor in the time of the second world war. Because there was not much to do and it rained a lot, the children decided to look around the house. They came across a room that had nothing in it, but a big wardrobe. Peter, Susan and Edmund found nothing interesting, and left the room. But Lucy opened the wardrobe, and looked inside. There were many coats in it. She left the door open, because she knew it was a foolish thing to lock oneself up in a wardrobe. She kept walking to the back, looking for the wall but she found none. Instead of feeling coats, or a wooden floor, she felt branches and snow. This confused her, as she kept walking. In the distance, she saw a light and when she reached it, it turned out to be a lamp post. She started walking around, when a starnge creature walked towards her. He was smaller than Lucy, and had the legs of a goat, a tail and held an umbrella in his hand. It was a Faun, and his name was Mr. Tumnus. Lucy introduced herself, and the Faun asked her if she was a Daughter of Eve. Lucy didn’t understand, and Mr. Tumnus asked her is she was a girl, which was true. Mr. Tumnus askedif she would like to go to is house and have some tea, and Lucy replied with a yes. They ate and drank, while Mr. Tumnus told her about all kinds of things like the White Witch, and Lucy told of her siblings. When Lucy told him she had to leave, Mr.Tumnus began to cry. Lucy tried to confort him, but he kept saying that he was a bad Faun, because he worked for the White Witch, whom made it always winter, but never Christmas. He had to take the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve to her, but he couldn’t now since they became friends. He brought Lucy back to the lamp post, but they had to be quiet, for the Witch had spies everywhere, even some trees. Lucy ran through the door of the wardrobe and stumbled out and ran to her siblings, and told them she’d come ba ck. Her siblings didn’t understand what she meant, for Lucy had only been gone for a merely a second. She told them everything she’d experienced, but they did’t believe her. Edmund kept making fun of her and asked if she’d found any new worlds since then. A few days later, they decided to play hide and seek. Edmund was â€Å"it† and had to find everyone. Lucy was hiding in t... ...e healing liquid she had gotten from Father Christmas. She gave Edmund and the other creatures that needed it, a few drops of the liqiud and they all healed. Finally, when everything ended Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy were crowned the Kings and Queens of Narnia. Peter was known as King Peter the Magnificent the High King, Susan as Queen Susan the Gentle, Edmund as King Edmund the Just, and Lucy as Queen Lucy the Valiant. They ruled Narnia for many years, untill one day they were in the woods, and found the old lamp post, not remembering what had happened many years before that. They followed the path, and stumbled out of the wardrobe one again. They were in their own clothes again, and they’d turned back into children. They told the professor, and he said they could not go back to Narnia, at least not that way. They had to find another way. Once a King in Narnia, always a King. CHILDREN'S FICTION The Horse and His Boy (1954) The Last Battle: A Story for Children (1956) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: A Story for Children (1950) The Magician's Nephew (1955) Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (1951) The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader" (1952) The Silver Chair (1953)

Case study 2-2 Essay

Case Project 2-2 I would determine whether an investigation is required for this type of situation. I would make am initial assessment about the case that I will be investigating. Meanwhile, determining the type a design of approach for this particular case. I would then estimate the time of each step, when the check was issued and as the amount. I would ask Jonathan to interview the other individual who has access to the company’s accounting program. I would review the company computer as well as the accounting program and see if there are any significant documents; which would including the company checkbook and ledger, as well as contact the bank for the most current bank statement. Any type of information pertaining or related to that particular check, which was issued during that time. However, if cleared, then further investigation has to be done. I would examine that employee’s email for anything suspicious as well as surveillance cameras within that office. I would also study the suspects work habits as well. I would ask Jonathan to locate and itemized any details of the subcontractor’s job amounting to $10,750 and the facts of the check for the amount $12,750. I would try to find the facts of the $2,000 difference, if available by comparing bank statements, and the accounting program. I will inform him to be very watchful of any relevant information that may eventually be evidence in this type of criminal case, which could be employee theft or embezzlement. If this other person beside Jonathan is involved in this crime and not being an  accounting error, has taken place, I would recommend Jonathan to allow me to further my investigation with this company.