Philippines' Diwata-1 follows in footsteps of early space explorers

It's quite fitting that the Philippines' first foray into space, the Diwata-1 microsatellite, is set for launch in 2016, celebrating two milestone anniversaries in space exploration.

The Diwata-1 is currently waiting its turn on the lineup of scheduled activities onboard the International Space Station—a collective triumph of humanity that wouldn't have been possible if not for two notable events that took place on the same day many decades ago.

Previous milestones

On April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made history as the first human in space. He completed the feat in the Vostok 1, a cramped space capsule that took him on a 108-minute orbital flight around the Earth.

"Gagarin's achievement demonstrated mankind's ability to go beyond its cradle of birth. For the first time, we harnessed fire, we were able to go where no one had gone before. It showed us that going to space, despite being a very difficult task, is achievable," Dr. Rogel Mari Sese of the Department of Science and Technology's (DOST's) Philippine Space Science Education Program told GMA News.

Two decades later, to the day, the Space Shuttle Columbia STS-1 made its maiden flight from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 1981.

The shuttle was a landmark achievement because it was the first reusable spacecraft, making voyages into space that much more economical and practical.

Both landmarks punctuated humanity's collective efforts to reach the stars, paving the way for the creation of the International Space Station which now nestles Filipinos' humble entry into the space race. 

Difficult road to the stars

And it has not been an easy journey, for Filipinos nor for those who have gone before us.

In recent weeks, the Philippines' nascent space program has been fraught with tension as two of its engineers complained of the immense pressure brought upon them to finish the Diwata-1 in a record year's time.

In his now-viral Facebook post last April 1, Paolo Espiritu said that he and his teammates were sent on scholarship to Japan to study aerospace engineering and to build the Diwata 1 under a "vague" contract that led to "outrageous treatment" and long work hours.

less than a week later, Julian Oliveros followed suit with his own complaint, in which he asserted that the satellite's construction had been railroaded at the cost of placing a heavy emotional and physical burden on the student engineers.

Oliveros resigned from the Diwata team shortly before posting his missive on Facebook.

These struggles are but faint echoes of the sacrifices made by our predecessors in the bid for space.

Sacrificed lives

Vladimir Komarov, Gagarin's friend and colleague, died horribly and tragically in a follow-up mission onboard the Soyuz 1. He is considered the first human to die on a space mission, in 1967.

Meanwhile, Russia's rivals on the other side of the world suffered their own losses: in January of the same year, three astronauts were roasted alive during a launch rehearsal of the Apollo 1. This led to an almost two-year delay in the USA's space program, which saw an extensive redesign of the Apollo vehicle.

And even when the USA finally beat the USSR to the moon, the mission was still fraught with so much uncertainty that US President Nixon had a speech ready to deliver in case the astronauts died.

"These men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding... In their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man," Nixon was prepared to say.

The space shuttle itself was also marred by horrific disasters, with the loss of the Challenger in 1986 and the Columbia in 2003.

PHL can learn from the past

The Philippines is in an excellent position learn from—and hopefully avoid—the mistakes of the past on our quest for independence among the stars.

The effort is far from a trivial exercise: the Philippine space program promises to improve our capability to forecast and respond to disasters, to say nothing of jobs and industries that will benefit from it.

But, for Sese and many of his fellow scientists, there is an almost spiritual reward to the Philippines' journey into space that outweighs its practical achievements.

"The amount of effort needed to send a human being to space and back is a testament to mankind's tenacity and persistence in pushing the boundaries of our intellect," Sese underscores.

Per ardua, ad astra: Sa ating paghihirap, ang mga tala. — GMA News