Nearly 500 years ago, in 1522, Ferdinand Magellan’s crew completed the first circumnavigation of the globe. It took over a thousand days, more than 25,000 hours. In 1924 the United States Army Air Service made the trip in 175 days. That’s 4,200 hours. Right this minute there are folks up in the International Space Station making the trip every hour and a half. So 16,000 times faster in 500 years. Projecting that rate of improvement forward, by 2521 we’ll have cut the travel time to reach the first exoplanet in another galaxy (Messier 51) to a mere 65 million years.
Monday, November 1, 2021
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Of course, Magellan died in the Phillipines so he didn't actually complete the voyage in spite of it being named for him. He didn't even actually make it to the spice islands, which was the destination of the voyage. He was in charge when they discovered what became the Straits of Magellan, so I guess that's legitimate.
The leader that did complete the voyage (in one ship out of five that started) is Juan Sebastian Elcano. He was recognized by the crown at the time but is now totally lost to history. (... Elcano's voyage circumnavigating the globe?)
How come he got dissed?
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