TV Program Description
Original PBS Broadcast Date: November 6, 2007
On October 4, 1957, the Space Age dawned with the red hue
of the Communist flag when the Soviet Union launched the first artificial
satellite. Sputnik I stunned the world and spurred a surge in science education
and innovation that changed our world forever. But was Sputnik I really a shock to America's leaders, and
how close was the U.S. to getting into space first? NOVA draws on previously
classified documents to tell the real story behind the opening chapter in the
space race. (For more on the space race, see a time line.)
"Sputnik
Declassified" counters
the popular view that President Dwight Eisenhower and the American science and
defense establishments were caught completely off guard; and that Eisenhower
was so behind the times that even after the success of Sputnik I, he still
failed to recognize the importance of space.
Interviewed on the
program are noted historians such as Roger Launius and Michael Neufeld of the
Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, and R. Cargill Hall,
historian emeritus at the National Reconnaissance Office, the super-secret
agency that operates U.S. spy satellites.
As NOVA shows,
historians are beginning to realize that an elaborate strategic game was
unfolding behind the scenes, with Eisenhower following a policy of divining
Soviet military capabilities at all costs. By the early 1950s, the Russians
were armed with nuclear weapons, and U.S. defense officials feared a Pearl
Harbor-style surprise attack.
Espionage inside
Soviet territory was nearly impossible, and reconnaissance overflights were
vulnerable and also forbidden by international law, which left Eisenhower with
only one technically feasible but as-yet unproven alternative: to spy on the
Soviets from the seemingly fantastic realm of space.
Ironically, the
administration's concerted efforts to conceal this long-range project may
have allowed the Russians to get into space first. Eisenhower approved a
civilian venture to launch a scientific satellite and insisted that a non-military
rocket carry the payload. This rocket, called Vanguard, had to be designed
virtually from scratch.
In "Sputnik Declassified," NOVA probes the prehistory of the Space Age, examining
what makes Earth orbit so difficult to achieve; why the superpower rivalry in
the wake of World War II made spaceflight attainable for the first time in
history; and how a worldwide civilian science effort called the International
Geophysical Year served as the occasion for both Sputnik I and the American
response.
One of the key U.S.
pioneers of the early Space Age is also one of the most controversial. As the
rocket program leader for Nazi Germany, Wernher von Braun developed the V-2 rocket,
which was built with slave labor and rained destruction on England, Belgium,
and France in the final year of World War II. (See more on Von Braun's
tainted legacy.)
Brought to the U.S.
with most of his staff after the war, von Braun spearheaded the development of
long-range missiles for the U.S. Army. On September 20, 1956—more than a
year before Sputnik I—the first of his Jupiter C missiles reached an
altitude of 682 miles, from which its fourth stage could have easily boosted a
payload into orbit. But the Department of Defense had already passed over the
Army team in favor of Vanguard and had forbidden von Braun from developing any kind
of orbital spacecraft.
Eight weeks after
Sputnik I, Vanguard was finally ready—and exploded spectacularly on the
launchpad. Now the tables were turned. Von Braun was given the go-ahead to get
a satellite into orbit as soon as possible, which he achieved on January 31,
1958, with Explorer I, launched by a Jupiter C missile.
Von Braun's
ultimate success and America's hurt pride and alarm over Sputnik I led to
the founding of NASA and eventually to the triumphs of the Apollo program.
Thanks to the space race that Sputnik I initiated, Eisenhower's secret
spy satellites and von Braun's childhood dream of human travel to the
moon both became reality.
Although many
experts foresaw Sputnik I, few could have predicted that the simple metal
sphere with a crude radio and two batteries heralded a fundamental rethinking
of America's priorities, and ultimately helped create the world we live
in today. Spaceflight, GPS, cell phones, satellite TV, even the personal computer
and the Internet—all owe a debt to Sputnik I. (For more on Sputnik's legacy, go to What Satellites See.)
Program Transcript
Program Credits
