The Red Room Rises: Sputnik and the Space Age turn 50

The Red Room Rises: Sputnik and the Space Age turn 50

http://cornellsun.com/node/24971

By Ryan Yamada
Created Oct 2 2007 - 12:00am

This Thursday, the world will mark the 50th anniversary of the launch
of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, by the Soviet Union. On
that day, a metal grapefruit with a handful of scientific instruments
and a radio transmitter was launched from central Kazakhstan into
orbit. Even as Americans watched the premiere of Leave it to Beaver,
their illusion of innocence was evaporating as the beep-beep of the
Red Moon ticked off the seconds of the new era.

Sputnik immediately challenged the basic assumptions upon which
Western security and American confidence, rested. American confidence
depended upon the assumption that a democratic, capitalist society was
best able to harness the collective energies and intelligence of its
citizens by empowering the individual. Postwar American strategy
depended upon high-tech solutions - in particular, a nuclear bomber
deterrent - to balance Soviet numbers in Europe. Yet somehow, this
authoritarian regime was able to beat the democratic West to the
ultimate missile. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that a
Soviet missile capable of delivering a satellite into orbit could be
used to fire a nuclear warhead at American cities.

The American response was rapid and substantial. The crisis provided
legal grounds for American spy satellites, which were used effectively
to peer behind the Iron Curtain. The Department of Defense created the
Advanced Projects Research Agency (ARPA, now DARPA), credited with the
Global Positioning System, the early Internet and closer to home, both
the Arecibo observatory and the Cornell Nanosatellite project. In
1958, Congress created NASA to better direct the efforts of America's
various military and civilian aeronautical programs. That same year,
Congress passed the National Defense and Education Act, which revamped
science education and provided financial aid for university students.
Federal science research budgets greatly expanded.

Yet in spite of Eisenhower's efforts to characterize Sputnik as a
scientific curiosity, fears of American technological inferiority and
a "missile gap" helped decide the 1960 presidential election. Not
since World War II, and perhaps never since, has science and
technology been so politically salient, so intimately linked in the
American collective consciousness with the welfare of the Republic.

History remembers the towering figures of technical leadership -
Korolev, von Braun and Goddard, among others - not only as scientists,
but also as political prisoners, warmongers, war criminals and victims
of libel and political caprice, as well as architects of policies
great and terrifying. All were flawed, monomaniacal, had egos that
outpaced their expansive achievements.

But most importantly, all were visionary. It was that shared vision -
of humans, at last, touching the heavens - that attracted, inspired
and organized young talent, the support of political leadership and
society at large, and government funding that translated into
success.

Our generation barely remembers the fall of the Berlin Wall. But we
are beneficiaries of that distant drama and can draw from that time
valuable insight into the process that transforms potency into
existence, dreams into global impacts and politics into progress.

Sputnik created a host of institutions and a strong federal commitment
to fund science. But its greatest, most critical legacy is the
generation of scientists who embraced uncertainty and challenge to
explore the possibilities of this new age. These individuals now teach
our classes, and serve in leadership positions in all areas of
society. These men and women continue to expand the frontiers of world
science to bring us sometimes wonderful, sometimes frightening, but
unfailingly miraculous tomorrows.

No one living in the age of Sputnik, save the most farsighted
scientists and unrepentant dreamers, could have imagined the world of
today. We are equally ill-equipped to accurately predict the events of
the next half-century, either in space or the Earth below. This new
ocean, like the seas of the twentieth century, may become the
battlegrounds for great power conflict. Or space might be the
exception in human history, the one frontier not consecrated with the
blood of the innocent as well as the brave. Perhaps in our efforts to
explore beyond this pale blue dot, we might find the wisdom and means
to build, here at home, what Langston Hughes called "the land that
never has been yet - and yet must be."

The direction of space in the next fifty years will be decided not by
technical means, but by the principles and values that guide the
individual scientist, the scientific enterprise and society as a
whole. Here, in this very university, the battle lines will be drawn,
the questions and challenges framed, explored, debated and ultimately
answered, by you who now study subjects and topics as diverse as the
stars in the sky. Your leadership in 2007 and beyond will prove no
less decisive, no less valuable, than the choices made by those
visionaries at the beginning of this new era.

Whatever the future holds, one thing is certain - America and the
world depend upon the genius, vision and character of its citizens,
who dare to ask why, dare to dream, dare to challenge the frontiers of
what is known, and dare to challenge themselves to become better
through greater knowledge and wisdom. History in general, and Sputnik
in particular, tell us that there is little that collective human
action cannot overcome, though it be matched against great challenges,
natural or man-made. Thanks to that belief, and those believers, we
can look at the heavens today with both greater knowledge and
appreciation than any other generation in all history.

--
Ryan Yamada is a graduate student in Astronomy.

On Oct 2, 9:06 pm, "Fred Goodwin, CMA" wrote:
The Red Room Rises: Sputnik and the Space Age turn 50

http://cornellsun.com/node/24971

By Ryan Yamada
Created Oct 2 2007 - 12:00am

This Thursday, the world will mark the 50th anniversary of the launch
of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, by the Soviet Union. On
that day, a metal grapefruit with a handful of scientific instruments
and a radio transmitter was launched from central Kazakhstan into
orbit. Even as Americans watched the premiere of Leave it to Beaver,
their illusion of innocence was evaporating as the beep-beep of the
Red Moon ticked off the seconds of the new era.

Sputnik immediately challenged the basic assumptions upon which
Western security and American confidence, rested. American confidence
depended upon the assumption that a democratic, capitalist society was
best able to harness the collective energies and intelligence of its
citizens by empowering the individual. Postwar American strategy
depended upon high-tech solutions - in particular, a nuclear bomber
deterrent - to balance Soviet numbers in Europe. Yet somehow, this
authoritarian regime was able to beat the democratic West to the
ultimate missile. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that a
Soviet missile capable of delivering a satellite into orbit could be
used to fire a nuclear warhead at American cities.

The American response was rapid and substantial. The crisis provided
legal grounds for American spy satellites, which were used effectively
to peer behind the Iron Curtain. The Department of Defense created the
Advanced Projects Research Agency (ARPA, now DARPA), credited with the
Global Positioning System, the early Internet and closer to home, both
the Arecibo observatory and the Cornell Nanosatellite project. In
1958, Congress created NASA to better direct the efforts of America's
various military and civilian aeronautical programs. That same year,
Congress passed the National Defense and Education Act, which revamped
science education and provided financial aid for university students.
Federal science research budgets greatly expanded.

Yet in spite of Eisenhower's efforts to characterize Sputnik as a
scientific curiosity, fears of American technological inferiority and
a "missile gap" helped decide the 1960 presidential election. Not
since World War II, and perhaps never since, has science and
technology been so politically salient, so intimately linked in the
American collective consciousness with the welfare of the Republic.

History remembers the towering figures of technical leadership -
Korolev, von Braun and Goddard, among others - not only as scientists,
but also as political prisoners, warmongers, war criminals and victims
of libel and political caprice, as well as architects of policies
great and terrifying. All were flawed, monomaniacal, had egos that
outpaced their expansive achievements.

But most importantly, all were visionary. It was that shared vision -
of humans, at last, touching the heavens - that attracted, inspired
and organized young talent, the support of political leadership and
society at large, and government funding that translated into
success.

Our generation barely remembers the fall of the Berlin Wall. But we
are beneficiaries of that distant drama and can draw from that time
valuable insight into the process that transforms potency into
existence, dreams into global impacts and politics into progress.

Sputnik created a host of institutions and a strong federal commitment
to fund science. But its greatest, most critical legacy is the
generation of scientists who embraced uncertainty and challenge to
explore the possibilities of this new age. These individuals now teach
our classes, and serve in leadership positions in all areas of
society. These men and women continue to expand the frontiers of world
science to bring us sometimes wonderful, sometimes frightening, but
unfailingly miraculous tomorrows.

No one living in the age of Sputnik, save the most farsighted
scientists and unrepentant dreamers, could have imagined the world of
today. We are equally ill-equipped to accurately predict the events of
the next half-century, either in space or the Earth below. This new
ocean, like the seas of the twentieth century, may become the
battlegrounds for great power conflict. Or space might be the
exception in human history, the one frontier not consecrated with the
blood of the innocent as well as the brave. Perhaps in our efforts to
explore beyond this pale blue dot, we might find the wisdom and means
to build, here at home, what Langston Hughes called "the land that
never has been yet - and yet must be."

The direction of space in the next fifty years will be decided not by
technical means, but by the principles and values that guide the
individual scientist, the scientific enterprise and society as a
whole. Here, in this very university, the battle lines will be drawn,
the questions and challenges framed, explored, debated and ultimately
answered, by you who now study subjects and topics as diverse as the
stars in the sky. Your leadership in 2007 and beyond will prove no
less decisive, no less valuable, than the choices made by those
visionaries at the beginning of this new era.

Whatever the future holds, one thing is certain - America and the
world depend upon the genius, vision and character of its citizens,
who dare to ask why, dare to dream, dare to challenge the frontiers of
what is known, and dare to challenge themselves to become better
through greater knowledge and wisdom. History in general, and Sputnik
in particular, tell us that there is little that collective human
action cannot overcome, though it be matched against great challenges,
natural or man-made. Thanks to that belief, and those believers, we
can look at the heavens today with both greater knowledge and
appreciation than any other generation in all history.

--
Ryan Yamada is a graduate student in Astronomy.

i want to record a little "firsthand" youthful perception or folk-
type take for 20th century american history

in fall of 1956 i was 11 or 12 years old, as i'm now 63 yeard old

in 1958, i was about fourteen

sputnik was a very big sensation deal, enormously publicized by the
u.s. media

i do recall "listening" to the actual satellite thing on an a.m. radio
band (1600?)

i do not know if i really was hearing its electronic signal, though
at the time i was tuned to exactly where the local newspaper said it
was ...it went beep, beep, beep.... until i was bored and turned it
off

there was an electric guitar (?) tune or version on popular top 40
radio, slightly eerie that i can actually still hum, altho i haven't
heard it in 50 years

it goes:

dah, dah dah, dah dah dahhhhhhhh, and over and over....i can "hear" it
though can't do music, (tho neither could irving berlin ,and beethoven
was deaf, but the embarrassing thing is, i took piano lessons)

("telstar" was something too--i'll look it up--possibly an american
company trying to compete/cash-in subsequently)

sputnik wasl bragging-rights & the well-publicized soviet space
program apparently rationally scared the helle out of the adults

professor "james b. conant" became influential, his name was mentioned
many times re "education reform," (which is kinduv a joke amongst
many teachers whom have seen so much b.s. and ripoffs since)

"yuri" or "uri gagharian" was the famous soviet cosmonaut

circa 1958, "explorer" one and two were sequentially embarrassing
american flops, attempts to keep up with the soviets satellite
program, but that exploded and buned-up on the ground , and we in the
usa sorta joked-whistled by the graveyard

we would send up a monkey, and the soviets sent-up gargarin onto space

not that long after, circa 1960s, baldy khrushchev, who looked like
my uncle max b-t-w, said, "we'll bury you"

and people sort of feared soviet long-range missles, as demonstrated
by their successful space program

the soviets did not show their space shots attempts in real time, and
there was a rumor or two about their having concealed more than one
disaster

his has been, history firsthand, or secondhand, however one defines
"real" history experienced-observed

On Oct 4, 1:19 pm, Robert Cohen wrote:

[...]
in 1958, i was about fourteen

I was ten.


sputnikwas a very big sensation deal, enormously publicized by the
u.s. media

Yep, it was one of the biggest deals I can remember. Top 5 news
stories in my life, for sure.

i do recall "listening" to the actual satellite thing on an a.m. radio
band (1600?)

i do not know if i really was hearing its electronic signal, though
at the time i was tuned to exactly where the local newspaper said it
was ...it went beep, beep, beep.... until i was bored and turned it
off

I remember two frequencies, near each end of the AM band. One beeped
faster than the other. It was brilliant of the Soviets to make it that
way, because there could be no doubt that there was something really
there.

Rather than listening until I got bored, I remember there were only
certain times you could hear it. The newspaper listed those times.
You'd play around with the radio dial at the appropriate time, then
the signal got stronger, then weaker. Seems like you could hear it for
about 20 minutes before it'd fade. Which might well be enough time to
get bored -- I mean, it was just "beep-beep-beep...".

[...]


there was an electric guitar (?) tune or version on popular top 40
radio, slightly eerie that i can actually still hum, altho i haven't
heard it in 50 years

it goes:

dah, dah dah, dah dah dahhhhhhhh, and over and over....i can "hear" it
though can't do music, (tho neither could irving berlin ,and beethoven
was deaf, but the embarrassing thing is, i took piano lessons)

("telstar" was something too--i'll look it up--possibly an american
company trying to compete/cash-in subsequently)

sputnikwasl bragging-rights & the well-publicized soviet space
program apparently rationally scared the helle out of the adults

professor "james b. conant" became influential, his name was mentioned
many times re "education reform," (which is kinduv a joke amongst
many teachers whom have seen so much b.s. and ripoffs since)

"yuri" or "uri gagharian" was the famous soviet cosmonaut

circa 1958, "explorer" one and two were sequentially embarrassing
american flops, attempts to keep up with the soviets satellite
program, but that exploded and buned-up on the ground , and we in the
usa sorta joked-whistled by the graveyard

we would send up a monkey, and the soviets sent-up gargarin onto space

Yeah... every time we managed to sorta gain some ground on us, they'd
up the ante. They'd launch a satellite, we'd blow up a rocket on the
pad. They'd put up a man, we'd put up a monkey. We'd put up a man,
they'd put up a woman. Then two men. They were constantly upstaging
us.

They were really on a roll for a while. Actually a very long time. We
beat them to the moon, but they continued with orbital manned
missions, and by the time of the downfall of the USSR, the Soviets
accounted for 3/5 of all human hours spent in space. A few years ago,
people snickered when their space station fell to Earth, but they
forget that ours also fell out of the sky. Both fell for the same
reason, too. Lack of funding.


not that long after, circa 1960s, baldy khrushchev, who looked like
my uncle max b-t-w, said, "we'll bury you"

Mr. K. was a real hoot. I feel sorry for your uncle Max.

and people sort of feared soviet long-range missles, as demonstrated
by their successful space program

Yeah, it took no time at all for the American public to realize that
if they can put a satellite in orbit, they can lob a nuke over. The
connection was clear and immediate. It was a VERY scary thought.

the soviets did not show their space shots attempts in real time, and
there was a rumor or two about their having concealed more than one
disaster

I was a news junkie at the time of Gagarin's flight, and am pretty
sure I remember an announcement -before- his flight. Mind you, this is
in perspective of the news of the day, where it was "common knowledge"
that the Soviets never announced a manned launch beforehand. Whenever
I heard that "common knowledge", I bristled, because of my memory of
the announcement beforehand.

I could be wrong, however, because I do not have a clear memory of
that announcement. You don't remember things like that -- it was
probably one of those "in other news..." items, and the only reason I
remember it is because they actually did it.

BTW, Gagarin's flight was nowhere near as big a deal as the Sputnik.

his has been, history firsthand, or secondhand, however one defines
"real" history experienced-observed

I've had some interesting if disturbing conversations with some
otherwise (I thought) well-informed young people who were born since
the last moon walk. One of them insists that nobody went to the moon,
ever. The other insists that Apollo 11 was the only moon landing
(there were 6 in all). I don't know what it is with them, I suspect
some kind of generational jealousy at work. I printed out a Wikipedia
entry on the Apollo program listing the different flights, and they
blow it off because "anyone can write anything on wikipedia". Which
sounds to me like a copout, like they don't want to accept that we
were doing some pretty awesome stuff before they were born. Still
scratching my head on that.

On Oct 4, 6:05 pm, rAzZbAr wrote:
On Oct 4, 1:19 pm, Robert Cohen wrote:

[...]

in 1958, i was about fourteen

I was ten.

sputnikwas a very big sensation deal, enormously publicized by the
u.s. media

Yep, it was one of the biggest deals I can remember. Top 5 news
stories in my life, for sure.

i do recall "listening" to the actual satellite thing on an a.m. radio
band (1600?)
i do not know if i really was hearing its electronic signal, though
at the time i was tuned to exactly where the local newspaper said it
was ...it went beep, beep, beep.... until i was bored and turned it
off

I remember two frequencies, near each end of the AM band. One beeped
faster than the other. It was brilliant of the Soviets to make it that
way, because there could be no doubt that there was something really
there.

Rather than listening until I got bored, I remember there were only
certain times you could hear it. The newspaper listed those times.
You'd play around with the radio dial at the appropriate time, then
the signal got stronger, then weaker. Seems like you could hear it for
about 20 minutes before it'd fade. Which might well be enough time to
get bored -- I mean, it was just "beep-beep-beep...".

[...]





there was an electric guitar (?) tune or version on popular top 40
radio, slightly eerie that i can actually still hum, altho i haven't
heard it in 50 years

it goes:

dah, dah dah, dah dah dahhhhhhhh, and over and over....i can "hear" it
though can't do music, (tho neither could irving berlin ,and beethoven
was deaf, but the embarrassing thing is, i took piano lessons)

("telstar" was something too--i'll look it up--possibly an american
company trying to compete/cash-in subsequently)

sputnikwasl bragging-rights & the well-publicized soviet space
program apparently rationally scared the helle out of the adults

professor "james b. conant" became influential, his name was mentioned
many times re "education reform," (which is kinduv a joke amongst
many teachers whom have seen so much b.s. and ripoffs since)

"yuri" or "uri gagharian" was the famous soviet cosmonaut

circa 1958, "explorer" one and two were sequentially embarrassing
american flops, attempts to keep up with the soviets satellite
program, but that exploded and buned-up on the ground , and we in the
usa sorta joked-whistled by the graveyard

we would send up a monkey, and the soviets sent-up gargarin onto space

Yeah... every time we managed to sorta gain some ground on us, they'd
up the ante. They'd launch a satellite, we'd blow up a rocket on the
pad. They'd put up a man, we'd put up a monkey. We'd put up a man,
they'd put up a woman. Then two men. They were constantly upstaging
us.

They were really on a roll for a while. Actually a very long time. We
beat them to the moon, but they continued with orbital manned
missions, and by the time of the downfall of the USSR, the Soviets
accounted for 3/5 of all human hours spent in space. A few years ago,
people snickered when their space station fell to Earth, but they
forget that ours also fell out of the sky. Both fell for the same
reason, too. Lack of funding.

not that long after, circa 1960s, baldy khrushchev, who looked like
my uncle max b-t-w, said, "we'll bury you"

Mr. K. was a real hoot. I feel sorry for your uncle Max.

and people sort of feared soviet long-range missles, as demonstrated
by their successful space program

Yeah, it took no time at all for the American public to realize that
if they can put a satellite in orbit, they can lob a nuke over. The
connection was clear and immediate. It was a VERY scary thought.

the soviets did not show their space shots attempts in real time, and
there was a rumor or two about their having concealed more than one
disaster

I was a news junkie at the time of Gagarin's flight, and am pretty
sure I remember an announcement -before- his flight. Mind you, this is
in perspective of the news of the day, where it was "common knowledge"
that the Soviets never announced a manned launch beforehand. Whenever
I heard that "common knowledge", I bristled, because of my memory of
the announcement beforehand.

I could be wrong, however, because I do not have a clear memory of
that announcement. You don't remember things like that -- it was
probably one of those "in other news..." items, and the only reason I
remember it is because they actually did it.

BTW, Gagarin's flight was nowhere near as big a deal as the Sputnik.

his has been, history firsthand, or secondhand, however one defines
"real" history experienced-observed

I've had some interesting if disturbing conversations with some
otherwise (I thought) well-informed young people who were born since
the last moon walk. One of them insists that nobody went to the moon,
ever. The other insists that Apollo 11 was the only moon landing
(there were 6 in all). I don't know what it is with them, I suspect
some kind of generational jealousy at work. I printed out a Wikipedia
entry on the Apollo program listing the different flights, and they
blow it off because "anyone can write anything on wikipedia". Which
sounds to me like a copout, like they don't want to accept that we
were doing some pretty awesome stuff before they were born. Still
scratching my head on that.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

thank you fellow ole person for complementing, supplementing and
correcting my witnessing

my birthday coincidentally is july 20th

on 7/20/69, the usa space program famously beat the ussr space program
to the moon

some conspiratoralists aka wackos may still regard the achievment as
a publicity stunt in the mohave and/or on a thespian stag-- everybody
has laugh about the modern flat-earther types in denial

i suppose the movie "appollo 13" did a helluva good job portraying
that particular crisis, which i vaguely had/have memory of, and thanks
to the movie

but most people--me included--since the 1960s are seemingly bored
witless by nasa and the space program(s), because imho nasa, a complex
govt bureaucracy of course, seems so much about p.r., politics, and
hubris to the extent of sugar coating reality and the challenges,
expensive mistakes and esoteric engineering difficulties

the "loose panel" seem to be a problem with which they continually
have difficlty

there indeed was a ground disaster in mid 1960s at cape-kennedy/
canaveral florida, and some later gus grissom's widow sued nasa and/or
contractors/whomever accusing "cover-up" and/or perhaps some
malfeasance--i am vague because i do not keep up enough

school teacher christine mccauliif 's doomed journry and also the
subsequent other disaster "columbia" years later do indeed prove that
there were/are much greater risks than the bland, blah, bluh nasa
inspired news coverage have treated as "routine" space exploration
activities