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American Space Age Reaches Fifty Years

Posted by Soulskill on from the fly-me-to-the-moon dept.

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."

2 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. FIRST POST! by Trogre · · Score: 0, Troll

    Oh, and what Sputnik shock? It was an amazing achievement, even if "The Enemy" got there first.

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    1. Re:FIRST POST! by raphae · · Score: 0, Troll

      But yeah, I think managing to launch a tin-can with a radio transmitter into space with the help of a former nazi scientist is another scrap we should feed to the ignorant flag-waving dumbasses to be proud of.