From Earth To Mars

By Jonathan Cardoso

First, men travelled in their own imagination, driven by their intelligence, which was fuelled by their myths. Who has never heard the myth of Icarus, the first man to fly? In fact, since the beginning of history, it has been the desire of man to reach the heavens, the dominion and abode of the gods, and this desire has given us beautiful stories. With this book I want to tell the story of astronautics, which according to the dictionary is science and its technology that deals with space flights, but I go further, because I see astronautics as the science that transforms dreams into reality. With this work I close with a flourish a project that I started more than 10 years ago: the collection “We and the Universe: astronomy”, where I hoped to tell the world how wonderful the sky is, much more than only those little dots of light indicate that they are. I thank and reiterate my gratitude to everyone who is following my work, to everyone who helped me and supported me to get here. This is not my mother language, but I used the few I know about it to translate my book and show my ideas to you. I am a Brazilian writer, and I hope that you like this book, as I loved to write it!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clube de Autores
• Release date: Oct 28, 2021

Book preview

Prologue

First, men travelled in their own imagination, driven by their intelligence, which was fuelled by their myths. Who has never heard the myth of Icarus, the first man to fly? In fact, since the beginning of history, it has been the desire of man to reach the heavens, the dominion and abode of the gods, and this desire has given us beautiful stories.

With this book I want to tell the story of astronautics, which according to the dictionary is science and its technology that deals with space flights, but I go further, because I see astronautics as the science that transforms dreams into reality. With this work I close with a flourish a project that I started more than 10 years ago: the collection We and the Universe: astronomy, where I hoped to tell the world how wonderful the sky is, much more than only those little dots of light indicate that they are.

I thank and reiterate my gratitude to everyone who is following my work, to everyone who helped me and supported me to get here.

This is not my mother language, but I used the few I know about it to translate my book and show my ideas to you. I am a Brazilian writer, and I hope that you like this book, as I loved to write it!

Part 1 - The space legends

THE MYTH OF ICARUS

The ingenuity of the human being is symbolized in one of the most beautiful myths of antiquity, a myth that reveals the human being's desire to fly: the myth of Icarus. According to the Greeks, Icarus was the son of Daedalus, who was the most skilled and creative man in all Hellas.

Daedalus was called to create a labyrinth in Crete, at the request of King Minos, and there he went, with his son and created an insurmountable labyrinth, to imprison the Minotaur. Daedalus, known for his inventions and the perfection of his handiwork, created a labyrinth so ingenious that it became known as the Labyrinth of Crete. But Daedalus managed to irritate King Minos. He helped his daughter to escape with a lover, and as a punishment, the king ordered the builder and his son to be thrown into the maze.

Daedalus knew that the prison was insurmountable, because he knew that declaring the opposite would be the same as defaming his own work, putting down his own talent. To escape from there, Daedalus designed wings, added the feathers of several birds, fixing them with wax, so that they would not come off during takeoff.

When everything was ready, the artist flapped his wings, just like birds do. Soon, he found himself suspended in the air. He dressed his son with a pair of wings and taught him to fly. He explained to his son not to fly high, because the heat of the sun could melt the wax that held the feathers on the wings.

They began to fly and were freed from the maze that imprisoned them. They flew across the sea and felt like the Gods themselves. However, Icarus forgot his father's recommendations and flew away without worrying about what old Daedalus had told him. He took flight high, until he touched the clouds, and did not notice that the waxes of the wings on his back melted; causing the feathers to come off. Icarus quickly fell into the sea and disappeared.

When Daedalus missed his son, he started looking for him and shouting: Son, where are you? He flew and flew and did not find his son, fearing the worst, flew over the sea, and it was not long before he found his son's wing feathers floating across the sea.