2011 will go down as a landmark year for space exploration, for a multitude of reasons. From end-of-an-era missions to incredible milestones to breathtaking discoveries, human civilization is reaching out further and more often than ever before from our pale blue dot in the universe. The vast interstellar distances suddenly looked a lot smaller this year as we were captivated with discovery after discovery of planets in other solar systems, while man-made vehicles took their first steps exiting ours. We took a moment to celebrate a half-century of manned space flight just as its torch was being passed from public to private enterprise here in the States. Through it all, NASA and others cleverly used the Web and social media to keep is informed -- and enthralled.
[More from Mashable: NASA?s Virtual Snow Globe Looks at 10 Years of the White Stuff]
There were space stumbles, too. The promising and innovative successor to the Hubble Space Telescope was in danger of being scrapped amid budget cutbacks. For a few months there, it felt like satellites were constantly falling from the sky, a new danger the planet didn't need. The sun entering a particularly active cycle meant renewed threats of solar flares to anything in orbit.
Although humankind's problems in space are real and need solutions, they also serve as an encouraging reminder that we're there. Those issues are only issues because we dare to brave the final frontier regularly in our quest to better ourselves and expand our knowledge of the universe. The deeper we venture into space, the more out civilization will be affected by it.
[More from Mashable: Inside a Last-Ditch Effort to Save the Space Shuttle]
Here are Mashable's picks for the top space stories of 2011.
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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