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).
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John h. Glenn, first
American In orbit
—
trad ed thousands o f young A m eri
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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
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