Fifty Years Since Sputnik

Hard as it may be to believe, it's been fifty years since the former Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik, the first man-made satellite to orbit the Earth. For many years it was considered a hallmark in the history of the space program and a sign that perhaps the Soviets had a leg up on the competition, namely the US. However, new information coming out of Russia indicates that the Sputnik project was not as straightforward as it appears on the surface. Scientists involved in the original program have indicated that the goal was not to outdo the American space program but to get something into orbit sooner. The successful launch of the satellite sent shockwaves through the American public which now feared that the Soviet space program would lead to the development of space-based nuclear weapons, ready to rain down on the United States. Thus the space race began.

The Americans then switched from the fledgling Vanguard satellite program (with it's comparatively smaller payload) to the Explorer program. The drive to excel was only exacerbated by the fact that the Soviets followed up Sputnik with Sputnik 2 which carried Laika the dog into orbit. Again, the American program seemed to be falling behind the competition and the possibility of Soviet domination of space seemed likely. Over the next three decades, the space race heated up and ultimately led to President Kennedy's challenge to land a man on the moon before the end of the 1960's. The American Apollo program accomplished the goal with about six months to go on the deadline. From Sputnik to the moon in twelve years. It amazes me that in such a short time man developed the technology to go to other worlds. I mean it was less than sixty years before that that man had first accomplished powered flight in the form of the Wright Flyer.

So what drove the change and the development? Competition. Wanting to be first to do something or accomplish something. When the Soviets sent Yuri Gagarin into space, Alan Shepard followed soon after. When Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman into space in 1963, America would follow with Sally Ride nearly 20 years later. Okay so there was some delay in the race now and again but the competition clearly helped bolster the desire to accomplish the goal. It also helped secure American sentiment behind the race into space. Propoganda was put in place to make it seem like the race into space was a race against communist aggression from the heavens. Now this may or may not have been true but for whatever reason, it was enough to get people motivated and enthusiastic about the space program.

And then after the missions to the moon were accomplished.... nothing. The space program began a steady decline in terms of public perception and although there is still a great deal of work to be done and new frontiers to be explored, the overall desire of the public to see further space exploration has dwindled to the point that some news outlets out there like to focus more on the negative aspects about the space program (especially here in the States) as opposed to talking about what some of the benefits to the continuation of the space program would be. Don't believe the space program has hit the skids? Remember prior to the Challenger accident? Launches were still rather rare and events that were covered quite extensively by the news. After Challenger there was renewed interest, mainly to see if the space program had learned anything from the mistakes of the past. They had but not enough to keep the interest of the people. President Reagan had said that soon space travel would be so common that there would be launches on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, just as with the local bus service, flights into space began being viewed as nothing than a routine jaunt around the block, albeit a block millions of miles long. It took the Columbia accident and reports of drunkeness and diaper-wearing escapades across state lines for the space program to make the news again. And not necessarily in a good way. People seem to think that there's nothing more to be gained by exploring the cosmos. Afterall, there are enough problems here; why go someplace else and find new ones to deal with. That's a logical arguement but one that continues to keep us insulated and self-centered. I think it's important to continue the exploration of space, and not just because I am a proponent of space travel.

One of the best things to happen during the early years of the space program was the drive to work together across many industries and walks of life to accomplish a goal. The way the world was brought together during the initial landings on the moon prove that people do care about finding out what is out there. Not everyone believes that man actually walked on the moon or has even been in space but no matter what, there is that allure to the fact that there are other worlds out there that could contain life or that could be explored for new resources. I continue to hope that the peak of space program was not hit with the landings on the moon. We should go back there and continue our expansion into other worlds. Mars stands waiting for us to visit. It took 12 years from Sputnik's flight for us to reach the moon, it shouldn't take us 100 years to get back there.