Eyes Up, Not Down
It is said that humans understand space better than we do our own planet’s inner contents. Certainly, most people probably know more about our solar system than they do about the underground world. The thought of taking a rocket into the cosmos is more exciting than burrowing into the dark and suffocating earth. But that doesn’t mean that the world’s superpowers weren’t interested in what lies below. While most of us have a basic understanding of the Cold War’s heated space race between the U.S.S.R. and the United States, how many know about the historical competition to dominate the subterranean realms?
Eyes Up Not Down
20th Century Explorers
It all began towards the end of the 1950s, when two rival teams, one Soviet and one American, commenced putting together a complicated series of experiments aimed at breaking through our planet’s crust. The scientists, geologists, and explorers involved were preparing for the adventure of a lifetime. It was believed that the Earth’s core was 30 miles deep, with a thick shell leading into the mantle, which is the enigmatic deeper layer of the earth that consists of around 40% of the Earth’s bulk.
20th Century Explorers
