Sputnik 1 was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957, and was the first in a series of satellites collectively known as the Sputnik program.
Here in the United States during this "Cold War" period, there was great concern that the Russians would dominate outer space and that strategic military position could become deadly to the American population. In my Class of 1958 yearbook, Michael Chouse, Secondary Supervisor, wrote, "In these trying times of world unrest and Sputniks, you the graduating class of 1958 will be faced with momentous decisions. It is our hope that you have learned to reason and to discriminate between the true and the false. Conflicting ideologies and beliefs, and mounting pressures will make it essential that you weigh these decisions carefully in the light of all known facets and that you believe like the intelligent citizens I know you to be."
That Fall when I went to the university, many of my fellow students choose to become engineers to meet this international threat. With sliderules on their belts, they studied to bring America up-to-speed with the Soviets. Between 1957 and 1975, Cold War rivalry between the two nations focused on attaining firsts in space exploration, which were seen as necessary for national security and symbolic of technological and ideological superiority. The Space Race involved pioneering efforts to launch artificial satellites, sub-orbital and orbital human spaceflight around the Earth. When John F. Kennedy became president of the U.S. in 1961, he presented his vision of putting a man on the moon (and bringing him home safely) which resulted in NASA with a goal of piloted voyages to the Moon. Kennedy's vision and strategy was realized and America reached superiority in space....until today.
Today, bad weather is threatening Friday morning's launch of space shuttle Atlantis, in what would be the last blastoff of the 30-year shuttle program. After that, the U.S. and other nations will rely on vintage Russian spacecraft to ferry their astronauts to the $100 billion station. Russia will, once again, hold a monopoly over manned spaceflight, and tensions already are rising. The Russians are in the process of nearly tripling the cost of using their Soyuz crew capsules for transport to the orbiting base, and other countries have little choice but to pay up.
Today, the entire Russian space program currently costs just $2 billion a year---that equals what the U.S. spends per week in funding the Afganistan military exercise ($2 billion per week to $12 billion per month estimated) in a war that is unwinable.
Atlantis's 12-day mission, manned by a four-person crew, is aimed primarily at restocking the International Space Station. The orbiter will carry a module filled with 8,640 pounds of supplies, enough to keep the station crew provisioned for up to a year.
It is hoped that the Russian monopoly on manned spaceflight won't last forever. But today, the U.S. government is financially in trouble and Congress and the Administration can't seem to decide how to correct the economic situation nor escape from the Iraq and Afganistan conflicts; to reduce and reallocate the country's limited military resources.
Today, NASA is seeking a commercial space taxi service--designed, built and operated by the private sector--to cut costs while [hopefully] speeding the pace of development.
Why aren't U.S. citizens asking their representatives if the country's priorities need to be re-visited before America becomes economically underwater like today's Greece or yesterday's Roman Empire?
Yes, Virginia, we aren't as rich as we thought we were.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2011
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