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American Space Age Reaches Fifty Years
Bryansix brings us a story about the 50th anniversary of the United States' entry into the Space Age. On January 31st, 1958, Explorer 1 became the first U.S. satellite to reach orbit. The New York Times is running a similar feature.
"Explorer 1 gave America a chance to recover some of its confidence and prestige after the Sputnik shock, but there was a scientific payoff as well: The data returned by the satellite showed that Earth was not surrounded by a swarm of killer pebbles, as some scientists had feared. However, the cosmic-ray readings hinted at the existence of bands of radiation surrounding the planet - an unexpected result that led to the discovery of the Van Allen Belts."
Satellites are indeed a big deal. But beyond our own orbit, space has turned out rather... empty.
Are you sure we are not in the space age?
We have a space station in orbit with humans on board.
We have interplanetary probes investigating other planets in our solar system.
We are using Global Positioning System to check where we are in the world.
We use satellite communications to talk, connect to the internet and send other information.
We use satellite sensing equipment to view our world like cloud patterns, deforestation, and other environmental systems.
There are many other things that I may have missed but space environment is the next of many more frontier for expansion of our knowledge.
We may gone beyond the space race but space age is here to stay.
How is it that Americans have lost their sense of wonder?
It's not lost, it's just distracted.
Oooooh, SHINY!
Didja hear about Britney going to the hospital?
(Plus there's the fact the P.T. Barnum was a piker compared to today's media.)
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
"going to the moon in the 1960s was more about politics than it was about science"
Right, but to be precise it was a political chess move that cornered the Soviets into a position where they didn't have any easy responses. That's why Kennedy wanted something that was "hard" to do. At the time, Mars would have been impossible, and Venus is still impossible (to land on). So the Soviets were basically trapped as far as taking any larger "leap" for mankind. The largest possible leap had already been taken.
There were bigger reasons that just putting one over their nemesis. The 1957 Sputnik launch had sucked off a lot of prestige. Arms sales, alliances and whatnot flow your way when you can prove you have the right stuff. If you appear to fall behind on something like intercontinental ballistics (as it was at the time) people could switch alliances or arms purchase decisions since they'll doubt you can deliver security. Even if leaders didn't like the Soviets, they might still make deals with them. The whole ball of wax could unravel...
You can't send a takedown notice to an already printed newspaper.
I'm convinced that historians will look back on Apollo as the high point of our civilization
I believe we are only a few (3 to 4) years away from being patriotic and supporting America like it was done in the 50's and 60's. Not that we will be at war, but rather true peace. We will have our heroes back and have a bunch of new ones as well. I predict that some individuals will become heroes who even post here on Slashdot for i have read a lot of very thought provoking messages over the last 10 years.
I visualize peace and cooperation in the world beginning to happen at an amazing rate. Perhaps each country will have their share of heroes too... I would be all for that.
And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make
Interesting story from NASAwatch: "The planned launch of 50 Juno I model rockets from Cape Canaveral to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Explorer I launch has now been cancelled by the station's wing commander. Although the CCAFS has no quams about launching Deltas, Atlas and other massive rockets, they go into a complete tither when it comes down to launching a 12 inch long model rocket made of balsa wood and paper weighing just under 2 oz. The intended launching was to be used as a fund raiser for the CCAFS Museum with each of the rockets being armed with the smallest engine they can carry, an A8-3. This engine would have propelled each of these 2 oz. Juno I replicas the a computer calculated altitude and or range of only 239 feet and each is recovered with a 12 inch parachute. The Air Force, however, upon discovery of the planned flights felt that these rockets could pose a hazard to the nearby Delta pads- which are made of concrete and steel and are more than 10 times farther from the model's launch site than the rockets can fly. With that as their reason, the Air Force started the red tape machine. Soon the USAF Jags got involved and wanted a held harmless form signed by everyone near the launch site. Next, a USAF person of non-importance decided to contact NASA and tell them that the rockets would be firing from the actual Explorer I launch site, which was on their property. Now enters the NASA red tape machine, which demanded a full safety review (keep in mind that kids have been flying such rockets since before NASA was even created). With this red tape storm in full swing, the CCAFS wing commander's office had heard enough and scrubbed all 50 launches. Thus, all over America on January 31, 2008 school kids and adults will celebrate the the day that the US Army launched Explorer I into space by launching model rockets. In spite of the winter conditions, the launches will take place in parks and school yards and back yards all over the United States- every place EXCEPT for Cape Canaveral. In 1958, the US Army restored the nation's pride following Sputnik, but it seems that in 2008, the Air Force and NASA cannot even get out of their own red taped way to launch a simple rocket made of balsa wood and paper.