Space Programs From Other Nations example essay topic

We have always dreamed about reaching the heavens. From ancient civilizations to the modern day world, our obsession of going into space has grown from studying the stars to actual exploration of space. We have come a long way since primitive charts of constellations. From telescopes to satellites, we as a population have progressed greatly in the world of technology. In a mere forty years, we have had more technological advances than the Industrial Revolution.

The Space Race has affected our everyday lives; we use the same technology that the astronauts used during their missions for example digital clocks (Dismukes web). Many industries have benefited, communication companies, industrial manufacturers, and the medical field. As a result of this technological revolution, the world has become smaller. With the technology gained from the Space Race, we can perform medical tasks that only existed in the dreams of surgeons; we can communicate with another person on the other side of the world in seconds, not days or months. Without the Space Race we would not have the technological advances that exist today. We as a population might have been stuck with the technology of the 1930's.

Germany, which has always been at the forefront of engineering, pioneered the technology for early rocketry. They broke new ground with the advances that they accomplished. The Germans interest in having rockets was due to the fact that after World War I the nation was banned in having long-range artillery, such as a bullet that can go several miles; instead Germany had begun research on rocket technology. Much of the accomplishment is credited to Hermann Oberth and Werner von Braun.

Oberth wrote The Rocket Into Interplanetary Space. Later, his work motivated future rocket engineers, and von Braun, along with his students, developed the infamous V-2 rocket, later used in World War II (Neal 17). With the knowledge gained from the research of Oberth and von Braun, the German military has built the V-1 and the V-2, which has been dubbed the "Vengeance Weapon" (Neal 19). During World War II, the American allies were closing in on the German stronghold, and Hitler was terrified, and he issued the manufacturing of notorious V-1 and V-2's. Von Braun and Oberth unknowingly started a new era in history, the series of technological advances, that would change the world forever.

When the Allies liberated much of Germany, von Braun surrendered to the Americans, and had a similar affect on the American Space Program, his knowledge of rockets went later to the design of the Saturn V, that powered many of the Apollo missions. As the Germans were advancing in their knowledge, technology, and expertise in the field of rocketry, the purpose of rockets had shifted from military to a civilian project. The government had deemed the project unacceptable, and terminated it. When the Germans showed the world that reaching the stars was not a far-fetched idea, it was possible to do an unbelievable feat of science and engineering.

Although the German rocket project was terminated, they had started the basis of modern day rocketry. The dream was growing to enormous proportions. Various nations were interested in this technology, especially the U.S.S.R. and later the United States of America (Snedden 9). At Approximately the same time the government terminated the rocket project World War II was coming to an end.

The Soviets had captured Germany; and seized the technology, physicists, and engineers, who had been working on the rocket project and later forced to work for the Russians (Neal 39). With the material seized during World War II, the U.S.S.R. established a space program. Twelve years later Russia launched the first successful satellite, Sputnik 1. Sputnik consisted of a sphere the size of a basket, with four antennae transmitting various amounts of information. As news of Sputnik spread throughout the world, it shocked and astounded the world. The ironic part is that the Russian government announced to their subjects that they could track and monitor the satellite in orbit.

The success of an artificial moon amazed the world; it shifted the balance of power from United States of America to the U.S.S.R., and marked the beginning of the Space Age (Walter 85). After the great success of Sputnik I, Russia launched a series of other Sputniks. Each mission was accompanied by animals, the first animal was Laika. The dog's life status was monitored and once again Russia amazed the world and improved that if a dog's life could be sustained in space so could a human's life. While America was screening test flight pilots from the air force to see who would be the first American in space, America was not able to accomplish this feat, only experienced pilots that can endear the forces of launching a rocket. After numerous accomplishments, launching Sputniks and animals into space, it was no surprise Russia would place a man in space.

On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin did just that and became the first man to go into space (Neal 29). When America was just starting their own space program Russia was well into theirs. It was humiliating to America that her long time foe, Russia was ahead in technology. America later stepped up, and became a worthy adversary to Russia.

The U.S. began looking for engineers, funding, and a place to conduct testing and launching. When America decided to have a space program, it established the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (N.A.C.A.) and it started from military tests in the desert of New Mexico (Murray 26). As the U.S. made progress, the Space Program shifted from a military to a civilian project. America was looking for bright engineers, physicists, and anyone else who can benefit the space program. The only test facility was the one at Langley, Virginia where high-speed engines were tested in a wind tunnel, but the facility was not up to date. As time progressed, the N.A.C.A. was a minor part of government and had a meager budget.

In 1958, Congress approved the Space Act, and it changed the N.A.C.A. into the National Aeronautics Space Administration (N.A.S.A.) In 1917, the United States government realized to its dismay that the United States, home of the Wright Brothers, couldn't build a plane to compete with he one that England and France and Germany were flying in the Great War. So the government created the N.A.C.A. and provided funds for a research for which, for reasons having to do with land prices and flying weather, was located near Hampton. The facility's full name was the Samuel P. Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, but everyone called it "Langley". (Murray 25) Among the many important dates in American history is May 25, 1961, where President John F. Kennedy announced to America that we would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. One of the many priorities was to find a safe, and remote launch site. Two were found.

One was in Houston Texas, and named in honor of President Kennedy - the Kennedy Space Center. The other was in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Both were remote locations away from major locations (NASA 4). The project name, which was assigned to this assignment, was Project Apollo. Over the course of eight years, Project Apollo had its success and failures. The most popular Apollo mission was Apollo eleven, where Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walked the moon.

The feat astounded the world much more than Russia did when they put a man in space. When the crew successfully completed the mission, they had countless parades in the crew's honor. Another famous mission was Apollo Thirteen, the mission was believed to be cursed, by the "unlucky" number thirteen. The superstition came true when one of the two oxygen tanks exploded during the launch, and the command module was separated from its service module. During the crisis of the mission one popular quote was said, "Houston, we have a problem". Thankfully the crew aboard Apollo Thirteen landed safely on earth.

With the great success of the space program, America gained the knowledge and understanding to launch a variety of satellites, from weather to military spy satellites. Satellites have benefited our everyday lives. "Communication satellites are responsible for instantaneous television coverage of events all over the globe, for the speed of international banking and finance, for the almost-immediate delivery of vast amounts of information, and for international e-mail and telephone service to all parts of the Earth". ("Neal 186") When a person watches television, the television is sent from the station to a satellite and to a local provider. Without satellites, a person would be able to only watch local stations, but with satellites a person can watch a television program from anywhere in the world, talk to anyone, or even send e-mail. The military benefited significantly with the technology gained from the space race.

The military has used the technology greatly; now the military can take high-resolution photographs from hundreds of miles away without endangering a soldier's life. A military satellite can intercept or stop any phone call, e-mail, or transmission of information (Needal 6). Satellites have benefitted not only the U.S. but also the rest of the world, with the information gained from artificial moons. One renowned satellite is the Hubble Space Telescope. The satellite, named after Edmund Hubble expanded our knowledge of the universe. Who had proved that the universe is constantly expanding, the Hubble Telescope has taken highly detailed photographs of stars, planets, and other questions about the universe.

In addition to our exploration of the moon, we are now exploring our solar system. The dream of sending deep space missions is getting closer everyday. America has launched numerous satellites to study planets (Dewar d 136). America has launched probes to Mars to study geography, geology, and history.

The possibility of colonizing other planets may be in the future. We have been able to put a space station in the Earth's orbit. Space Station Alpha is an international joint project consisting of space programs from other nations such as NASA, CSA, (Canada), ESA (Europe), NASA (Japan), RKA (Russia), and Brazil (IN PE) (Dismukes web). Though working together the countries are now closer. The Space Race has changed our lives forever by benefiting society. The technology which we use everyday is credited to the technology used during the space race, the advances, which were made in medical to golf, once again these advances, are bi-products of the space race.

In a medical procedure there maybe a miniature robotic arm used to assist the surgeon, robotic arm was derived from deploying satellites. And the metal researched to the space program are now used in everyday golf clubs, giving the player better control. Without the many industries being pushed by the government to develop "space age" technology we might still be writing letters instead of typing e-mails. Almost forty years later, our dreams still exist and keep expanding to new possibilities about space. The Space Race has sparked the question, "Are we the only ones out there?" To attempt answer this boggling question, SETI was established, the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence. Perhaps we will soon find the answerDeward, John and Nancy.

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