SWABI, May 24: More countries are expected to join the race for space technology with the passage of time, while keeping in mind its benefits in future.

This was stated by Professor Hartmut Sax of Germany who was speaking on “Space Technology: Science and Applications” at the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology on Wednesday.

He praised space flight pioneers like K. Tsiolkowsky (1857-1935), Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945) and Hermann Oberth (1894-1989).

He said spacecraft were sent to several planets and had descended on Venus, Mars and Jupiter.

In the beginning, he said, the former Soviet Union and the US were in the space race, but later the Russians gave up because of financial constraints.

“At present only the Americans and some Europeans have the monetary power to allocate funds for space discovery”, he said.

“The Russians can not afford the expenditures and are out of the space competition”.

Speaking on the occasion, Professor Sax said main objectives of going into space were: to perform experiments without the influence of gravity, possibility of surveying large scale phenomena on earth and better outward view into the sky.

He spoke of the details of how the space was conquered, first joint space project, opening up of space activities to people in early 1970s and 1980s, space utilization, UN regulations for space activities and first landing on moon and safe return from it.

He opposed the use of space for anti-human activities and advocated its utilization for the benefit of mankind.

He said main objectives of international space station are: microgravity laboratory for research and experience of space facilities, long-term human space flight experience and experimental preparation for human exploration of space.