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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 1982)
Portland Observer, October 6, 1962 Page 5 Twenty-five years in space Turn thermostats to 68° during the day and 55° at night. And if the thought of saving money doesn’t keep you warm enough...wear a sweater. Smithsonian Nows Ssrvlca The year w a i 1957. A popular president named Ike waved at televi sion viewers from the O o lf Links. Perry C om o crooned “ Dream Along W ith M e“ and Elvis Presley was King. Gasoline cost 23 cents a gallon. A m erica was m odern, fashion able and self-confident. There were tensions, o f course— the Cold W ar, backyard bomb shelters and C iv il Defense drills dominated the news— but a decade after the end o f World W ar I I , the U nited States had be come the unchallenged leader o f the Free World. American science, tech nology and a thriving free enterprise system, the U .S . public believed, were the best anywhere, the key stone of Western security. On Oct. 4, 1957, American confi dence was shaken abruptly. Without warning, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I , the world's first E arth orbiting satellite. The Space Age— and race— had begun. Sputnik sent shock waves through this country. The United States had been edged out by a dangerous rival and the issues were hotly debated in Congress and the media. Thus gal vanized by considerations o f nation al security and p o litical preem i nence, the nation embarked on an ambitious program o f space explor ation that has taken man to the m oon, explored the solar system and beyond and witnessed the spec tacular success o f the space shuttle, the world's first reusable spacecraft. Today, a quarter o f a century a f ter Sputnik, visitors to the Smithso nian's N ational A ir and Space M u seum in W ashington, D .C ., can vividly rilive the past frustrations and ebates while cheering the heroes and technological triumphss at a new exhibit com m em orating 25 years o f space exploration. Featur ing T V film clips, newspaper head lines, photographs, Space Age arti facts and memorabilia o f the times, the exhibit is a nostalgic journey through the golden age o f space ex ploration. “ Anniversaries are an excellent excuse to stop and take stock o f where we've been and get some much needed perspective," says as sistant curator A lla n A . Needell, who sought to place (he Space Age in a social and cultu ral context. “ The triumphs o f the Space Age did not happen in a vaccuum, but werr strongly influenced by events hap pening elsewhere in society." C onsider, for instance, the c li mate in the im m ediate wake o f S putnik. The U nited States was forced to play catch-up with the So viets, who quickly launched Sputnik 2 on N ov. 3. Pressure mounted on the scientists and engineers from the N aval Research L ab o rato ry who had been assigned the task o f launching an E arth-orbiting satel lite. In contrast to the Soviet p ro gram, which was largely conducted in secrecy, the Am erican space e f fort was publicly conducted. And so it was (hat, on Dec. 6, before a tele vision viewing audience o f millions, the Vanguard rocket carrying a smal test satellite exploded a few seconds after ignition. It was Jan. 31, 1958, before the United States succesfully orbited Explorer I . Against this backdrop, Congress passed the N atio n al Aeronautics and Space A ct, establishing N A S A and setting overall policy for a civil ian space program . Sputnik also spurred a critical review o f the U.S. education system; many o f today's science curricula and education grant and loan programs owe their existence to the N atio n al Defense Education Act o f 1958 which at- Apollo 11*a Edwin E. Aldrln walka on the moon. Smilhioman New» Service Photo« courtesy ol NASA , Change a habit. Conserve your current and your « currency. F vZ EZ Space shuttle Columbia takes off and lands (above, left). I LL BUY ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING CASH for TOOLS 760-8346 Fred Meyer John h. Glenn, first American In orbit — trad ed thousands o f young A m eri can! into scientific and engineering careers. The decade o f the 1960s saw a high-stakes, one-upmanship space race as the Soviet U n io n and the United States vied w ith each other to be first. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space on Feb. 12, 1961, followed on M ay 5 by Astronaut Alan Shepard. Less than three weeks after Shepard’s success ful flight, President Kennedy com mitted the nation to landing a man on the moon before the end o f the decade. Project A p o llo , which was pre ceded by the successful Mercury and Gemini programs, reached its spec tacular culm in atio n on July 20, 1969, as a breathless nation watched two men w alk on the m oon. Once again, Am erican science and tech nology had become the focal point for world admiration. And increas ingly, the A m erican consumer found Space Age technology a part o f everyday life. P arado xically, Needell notes, “ The great space trium phs o f the '60s took place amidst the backdrop o f upheaval. The enterprise o f sci ence seemed to provide us with some constructive foundations during a period when everything else seemed to be falling apart." The national prestige gained from A p o llo continued long a fte r the event, but success led to some com placency. “ M an y people soon lost interest in space,” Needell says. In the 1970s, space became com mon place— yet orbiting laboratories like Skylab provided a wealth o f scien tific knowledge; people around the w orld thrilled to images o f M ars, Jupiter and Saturn beamed to Earth by the V ik in g and Voyager space craft cameras. S till, the average A m erican was more concerned with environmental pollution, long lines at gasoline sta tions and Watergate than with outer space. Social and political problems were param ount; when solutions were not forthcoming, the question was raised, " I f we can put a man on the moon, why can't w e. . . 7” Looking back over the past 25 years, Needell says, “ T h e re ’ s no question that many things about our society have changed— our tastes in music, lite ratu re, fashion, even food, for instance, and especially our science and technology." Unsurprisingly, one thing that has not changed is the tone o f the politi cal debates. In 1957, for example, many people blamed America’s lack o f success in space on Eisenhower and his adm inistration's perceived failure to develop a h ig h -p rio rity space program. Eisenhower sought to assure Americans that the United States was not behind, and televi sion film clips from the era show him as a fatherly, calming influence, while opposition politicians seized the issue and tried to make the most o f it. Today, administration space pol icies are once again the subject o f controversy. The issues are different than they were 25 years ago, but there are striking similarities in the debates. In July, President Reagan issued his long-awaited statement on national space policy in which he re affirm ed the national commitment to the exploration and use o f space “ in support o f our n ational w ell b e in g ." Nonetheless, some p o liti cians found fault in his emphasis on national security and m ilitary uses o f space. There are also echoes today o f the debate heard near the end o f the Apollo project; now, as then, some scientists are worried over the future o f planetary exploration— long the crowning jew el o f the U .S . space program. W hat, then, does the future hold? Many are encouraged by the success o f the space shuttle; some see it as today's symbol o f U .S. intentions to be in space tomorrow. “ There m ay, in fact, be as great an advance in the next 25 years as in the past,” Needell speculates. “ One thing is likely; The m ilitary will ac count for larger portions o f our space e ffo rt. And private industry also will play a greater role in space communications and m anufactur ing. But whether in s p iratio n al ac complishments like the lunar land ings and the new views o f our plane tary neighbors w ill continue re mains to be seen. “ In an age when resources must be carefully managed and priorities set, it is w o rth recalling what we have learned and what we have gained in space during the past 25 years." S h o p p m q C e n te rs < Super Shopping Centers Help Lower Your Cost of Living... Your nearby Fred Meyer Super Shopping Center is filled with "People-Pleasing" services to make your shopping more pleasant. 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