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Sputnik
Anniversary Marks 50 Years of Space Race |
Posted:
10.03.07
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When the Soviet Union launched a basketball-sized satellite into
space October 4, 1957, it shocked the world and set off a space
race.
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An aluminum ball with four antennas and two radio transmitters
inside, Sputnik I weighed 183 pounds and orbited Earth transmitting
a beeping radio signal for 23 days before it ran out of batteries.
It fell out of orbit and burned up upon reentry into the Earth's
atmosphere in January 1958.
 The
launch spurred the United States to create NASA and try to outdo
the Soviets by sending an American spacecraft outside of Earth's
orbit.
Roger Launius, curator of the National Air and Space Museum,
said the Sputnik I launch changed the course of scientific research
and the tone of the U.S.-Soviet Cold War.
"Two generations after the event, words do not easily convey
the American reaction to the Soviet satellite, the only appropriate
characterization that begins to capture the mood on Oct. 5 involves
the use of the word 'hysteria,'" he told ABC News.
"The communists were going to rule," recalled Homer
Hickam, who was 14 when he saw Sputnik. "And the proof of
this was this shiny little bauble that flew around the world every
90 minutes."
"I was awestruck by this bright, shiny star that came across
the sky with such energy, and I decided at that moment that I
wanted to be part of the movement that was the whole world going
into space," Hickam, who now trains NASA astronauts, told
the Washington Post.
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Laika the
spacedog |
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 While
the United State scrambled to catch up, the Soviets again broke
new ground with Sputnik II on November 3 of the same year, which
transported the first passenger to space: a dog name Laika.
Laika survived in space for two days before succumbing to heat
in the pressurized cabin.
The Americans tried to launch a satellite called Vanguard TV3
on December 6, but it crashed back onto the launchpad.
Not until January 31, 1958, did the United States successfully
send Explorer I into orbit. That craft contained a Geiger counter
to detect cosmic radiation.
Both countries later sent humans into space and in July 1969
the United States sent the first human to the Moon.
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Space race
leads to cooperation |
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 The
Sputnik launch came during the Cold War, when the United States
and the Soviet Union were locked in decades of political tension
and proxy wars in Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s, becoming Russia
and several other smaller nations, the Americans and Russians
began to work together and pool their space research in projects
such as the International Space Station.
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Asia is new
player in space race |
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But while the U.S. has been
a leader in developing new space technologies for decades, some
experts warn that Asia might lead the next space race.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium, warned
that lack of investment in developing science professionals in
the U.S. could shift the cutting edge to China, Japan and India.
 "In
America, contrary to our self-image, we are no longer leaders
but simply players. We've moved backward just by standing still,"
he told Agence France-Presse.
Although the U.S. has plans to travel to Mars and revisit the
Moon, China launched its first manned spaceflight in 2003 and
plans to send a satellite to orbit the Moon.
Japan is also jumping in, planning a similar Moon probe and several
manned space missions.
NASA's chief scientist for the Moon and Mars, Jim Garvin, said
the age of America going it alone in space is over and the first
person on Mars will probably be planting a whole sheaf of flags.
"It's really a playing field for the world community,"
he told the Post.
"I see it as a U.N.-type flag arena on Mars."
--
Compiled by Quinn Bowman for NewsHour Extra
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It's important to understand both sides in an election, and I think it will be interesting to hear the Republican opinion on big issues. As a writer, it will be my job to take that perspective and share it with the youth of the country, a crowd that mainly supports Obama.
