The Race Begins

It is difficult to express the magnitude of this event in terms of its impact on world history. As that ominous cloud billowed over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, its shadow was to be cast forever over the entire world. For generations to come, and to this day, all of humanity lives with the threat of these abominations. It was precisely this threat that motivated the advancing rocket technologies of the twentieth century. So terrified were the American people of these new weapons and the Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles that could soon deliver them anywhere on earth, that they unanimously approved any measures to counteract the possibility of their future deployment. Although the world saw an unbelievable proliferation of the nuclear arsenal as deterrent force, we also witnessed new levels of innovation in the ultimately magnanimous science of space travel due to this fanatical fright. The American people's sweeping support of any and all anti-communist and nuclear deterrant technologies led to the onset of our greatest age of exploration and discovery.

The Space Race Begins

...........With the detonation by the United States of the world’s first atomic bomb in the desert of Alamogordo, New Mexico, and the following employment of the weapons to end the war in Japan, a new age was born. This was an event that enkindled the coming age of competition between the American and Soviet world powers. Conventional warfare was no longer. With the entire world being divided between the "red" socialist states and the free democratic states, there was a greater feeling of hatred and paranoia being cultivated by both sides toward the other than ever before. It would not be long before the Soviets had their own weapons of mass destruction, and that the strategic mastermind of the USSR, Joseph Stalin, recognized the utility of ballistic missiles in his long-term plans. He knew that the U.S. air power was fierce, especially their new long-range atomic bombers. So he decided to pursue a different strategy. In an address to his high council he outlined his devious plans for the intercontinental rockets of the future, with confidence that he would soon have The Bomb: "Do you realize" he asked them "the tremendous strategic importance of machines of this sort? They could be an effective straitjacket for that very noisy shopkeeper [US president] Harry Truman. We must go ahead with it, comrades. The problem of the creation of the transatlantic rocket is of extreme importance to us"(Walter, 74). It was indeed a problem of extreme importance, to both sides of the struggle the task loomed ominously ahead: to be the first nation to build an effective and accurate long-range rocket, a rocket that could circle the globe. And so the race began.

Dawning of a New Age

...........The uneasy alliance between America and Russia during World War II, predictably, was erased as quickly as it had been established, as each laid claim to the spoils of war. The devastated nations of Europe scarcely had the energy to challenge the apportionment of lands between US backed democracy and USSR backed communism. The battle lines were clearly being drawn, and the world was being carved like a cooked bird. It seemed that to America that the "evil commies" were infecting the world. But in this new world of atomic (and later thermo-nuclear) weapons, unabated battle was no longer an option. So instead the hot war turned cold, save a few uprisings, and the battle instead would be for technological, political, imperial and economic superiority, perhaps best embodied by the Soviet-American Space Race. One of the most intense chapters of anxiety in international relations in history would also see some of the most spectacular human achievements ever. Although largely motivated by fanatical feelings of rivalry, this new space age was also an honest attempt to further human understanding and appreciation of Earth. The establishment of a civilian space agency, separate from the military, exemplified the level to which American leaders wished to emphasize this point. And despite the fact that every early space mission was being held upon a delicate scale, weighing in against the rivals, when the muck is scraped off, one can see the shining beauty of these accomplishments, not for just one nation, but for all of humanity.

James Van Allen worked closely with many of NASA's early scientists and helped design the explorer 1 satellite's components. On its first successful flight this satellite confirmed the presence of belts of radiation around the earth, which were then called the "Van Allen Belts"

High Hopes and Slow Progress

...........In an attempt to orchestrate worldwide scientific advances in the study of the Earth and its immediate environment, visionary American thinkers proposed a year of devotion by the international scientific community to this concern. But this seemingly benevolent goal also had some more dire implications. The astrophysicist James Van Allen, who had worked previously with the captured Germans and their V-2 rockets, came up with a splendid idea in a meeting with colleagues in 1950. He suggested that any interested nations participate in what later became the International Geophysical Year (IGY). of 1957-58, a global effort to better understand the complex workings of the Earth by launching earth-orbiting satellites (Walter, 78). It was a worthy challenge, and an invitation that was to be heeded by both of the world’s new superpowers. Isaac Newton knew it could be done, and so did the scientists of modernity. Typical of the competitive spirit of these years, a day after the US agreed to accept this invitation, on July 30, 1955, so did the USSR (Walter, 78). This concoction by an astrophysicist to better understand the Earth was effectively mutated into another aspect of the ‘50s cold war game.

...........The stage was set for this goal to be actuated, but the question still remained. How was an earth orbiting satellite supposed to be built? At the White Sands missile range in New Mexico, Von Braun and about four hundred other engineers had been out of the V-2 program for several years when the plans for the IGY surfaced. They had previously launched scientific experimental payloads, but with limited success due to the relatively vertical trajectory of these "sounding rockets"(Smith, 33). Von Braun knew as well as anyone that in order to conduct effective scientific studies, an orbiter was necessary. He offered his "Redstone" rockets, a powerful creation he had designed, but President Eisenhower opted instead for the Naval Research Laboratory’s "Vanguard" model which had been designed strictly for scientific payloads rather than the military origin of the Redstone design (Walter, 79). Eisenhower made several obvious gestures to stratify military and scientific objectives in space, likely due to the fear of escalating tension between the States and Russia. It was set that the Vanguards would be the first devices of American origin to be thrust into orbit. Despite Eisenhower’s insistence that a non-military rocket be used, there were still obvious military overtones, if in no other way than to deter a Soviet ballistic missile attack. The mission was ostensibly scientific, but the air force had already been conducting studies on the military use of spacecraft, including use as a reconnaissance vessel (Smith, 34). So despite the outwardly harmless nature of these craft, it was no secret that their employment could be more malevolent.

The designs and hardware for the German V-2 rockets had been refined in the years following the war. Werner von Braun and his associates at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency test fired many of these rockets at the desolate White Sands missile range pictured here.

The first attempt by America to launch an orbiting satellite ended in disaster. The Vanguard failure delivered a brutal blow to the morale of the United States public.

...........This fact explains the deep feeling of violation and outrage that accompanied the Soviets’ seeming victory in this lofty challenge. On October 4, 1957, the first ever Earth orbiting satellite was successfully deployed. The Sputnik, a small and simple beeping drone had been launched that orbited the globe every hour and a half. According to space historian Robert Smith "To a nation with a profound distrust of Soviet intentions, that unexpected demonstration of Russian technological prowess was startling and deeply disturbing. Underlying this response was the realization that a Soviet missile powerful enough to launch a satellite into space could also be used to carry atomic weapons from Russia to obliterate American cities"(Smith, 35). This unexpected event was truly the beginning of the Age of Space. It would become a pockmark on Americas’ record, symbolizing a fundamental lack of preparedness and advancement in the face of an encroaching enemy power. A month later there came a second Soviet success, this time with a dog on board; it seemed to many that there were fundamental problems with the American space program. Then, to add insult to injury, the first attempt by the United States to match this unbelievable feat was miserably denied. The Vanguard rocket that was to carry an American satellite to orbit on December 6,1957 lifted a mere four feet off of the pad before bursting into explosive flames (Emme, 124). This would be an ominous exemplar of the events to come.

...........With the 1957-58 International Geophysical Year underway and no satellite to show for it, the US government was not yet ready to give up. Only two months after the failure of what the press was calling "rearguard" and "kaputnik," the determined Werner Von Braun hauled out an improved version of his Redstone rocket now called a "Jupiter-C," and launched its payload, the Explorer1 into a perfect orbit. The Jupiter-C carried on board a much more sophisticated satellite than either of the Russian Sputnik satellites, which was a victory in some way for a deflated American populace (Walter, 85). The Explorer1 made some remarkable discoveries about radiation belts surrounding earth, but more importantly to most people, it indicated that American craft could still out perform the Russians, if they could only get off of the ground (Walter, 85). This needed reaffirmation was an important psychological boost for Americans, but much greater trials loomed ahead. The fact that Americas first launch of a satellite into space was more than just a beeping ball speaks of their devotion to science rather than just political showboating. But with the focus of most Americans on the deficiencies of the space program rather than its successes, it was time for even yet greater investment in this embryonic science. This in short order manifested as an entirely new government agency, devoted entirely to the policies and pursuit of space. The agency was the National Aeronautics and Space Administration- NASA for short.

Sputnik's successful deployment into earth orbit was a shock to the entire world. It came to represent a victory for the powers of Communism, haunting America with its monotonous droning radio beacon.