What We Know
Shockingly, some claim that our understanding of space is now greater than that of what lies under the surface of the Earth. And while many people are acquainted with the space race that captured the U.S. and U.S.S.R. during the Cold War, few recall the equally intriguing struggle to conquer our underground planet.
Digging Into Earth
Competing teams of American and Soviet scientists started organizing elaborate experiments aimed at penetrating the Earth’s crust in the late 1950s. This thick shell thought to reach as far as 30 miles to the middle of our planet, gradually gives way to the mantle, the elusive inner layer that makes up a whopping 40 percent of our planet’s mass.