freely watch the sky in a democratic country if the US won the war against Russia –
even, and especially, in space.
Von Braun knew the US Navy’s Vanguard rocket was problematic and feared
that the Russians would get to space first. In fact, this happened on October 4,
1957. Radio Moscow announced overnight the launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, which translates to “fellow traveller”. That 2-foot diameter metal
sphere orbited 600 miles above Earth, scaring the US and the entire Western
world.
Despite von Braun’s reservations, the Vanguard rocket went on to become the
favoured project to counteract the Soviet Sputnik’s success. The US government,
under the pressure of public opinion, ordered the Navy to rush the missile tests
and launch the rocket by the end of the year. In December, Vanguard was deemed
ready for launch pad, but at take-off it exploded live on TV due to an engine
failure.
Von Braun then got the green light for his Explorer rocket, a modified version
of the Redstone ballistic nuclear missile. On January 31, 1958, he successfully
launched the Explorer 1 satellite carrying a scientific payload: an instrument
designed by an Iowa University professor, James Van Allen. Van Allen succeeded
in studying the highest atmospheric layers and discovered the “belts” around the
Earth, which thereafter took his name. The Explorer’s success paved the way for
important scientific discoveries, but above all, it gave momentary relief to the US
in the race against Russia.
How did the world get to that point? In which geopolitical realm did space
exploration originate? And why did anybody decide to go to the Moon?
In 1945, the political and economic conditions of many countries on Earth had
dramatically changed. In a few years Europe, which had been until then the pivot
of civilization, became a devastated land. The victorious countries, Russia and the
United States of America, had built up unparalleled military power, so the world
became bipolar, splitting into the East and West. Thereafter, the two nations began
a fifty-year fight for global supremacy. Their war was never directly fought
between armies on the ground, but rather indirectly through political, technological and economic confrontation, dubbed the “Cold War”. The conflict was pervaded by a ghostly nightmare: the atomic bomb, the ultimate weapon never seen
before in history, capable of destroying all humankind.
The US was the first to build the bomb thanks to the work of scientists such as
Enrico Fermi, Robert Oppenheimer and Edward Teller. The Russians managed to
build it only years later, thanks to the physicist Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov.
3
During WWII, Adolf Hitler had financed nuclear research but Germany did not
develop the atomic bomb, as the Nazis were sceptical about the work of physicist
3
Rhodes, Richard. 1986. The Making of the Atomic Bomb. New York: Simon & Schuster.
14 The Space Race: Moondust
even, and especially, in space.
Von Braun knew the US Navy’s Vanguard rocket was problematic and feared
that the Russians would get to space first. In fact, this happened on October 4,
1957. Radio Moscow announced overnight the launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, which translates to “fellow traveller”. That 2-foot diameter metal
sphere orbited 600 miles above Earth, scaring the US and the entire Western
world.
Despite von Braun’s reservations, the Vanguard rocket went on to become the
favoured project to counteract the Soviet Sputnik’s success. The US government,
under the pressure of public opinion, ordered the Navy to rush the missile tests
and launch the rocket by the end of the year. In December, Vanguard was deemed
ready for launch pad, but at take-off it exploded live on TV due to an engine
failure.
Von Braun then got the green light for his Explorer rocket, a modified version
of the Redstone ballistic nuclear missile. On January 31, 1958, he successfully
launched the Explorer 1 satellite carrying a scientific payload: an instrument
designed by an Iowa University professor, James Van Allen. Van Allen succeeded
in studying the highest atmospheric layers and discovered the “belts” around the
Earth, which thereafter took his name. The Explorer’s success paved the way for
important scientific discoveries, but above all, it gave momentary relief to the US
in the race against Russia.
How did the world get to that point? In which geopolitical realm did space
exploration originate? And why did anybody decide to go to the Moon?
In 1945, the political and economic conditions of many countries on Earth had
dramatically changed. In a few years Europe, which had been until then the pivot
of civilization, became a devastated land. The victorious countries, Russia and the
United States of America, had built up unparalleled military power, so the world
became bipolar, splitting into the East and West. Thereafter, the two nations began
a fifty-year fight for global supremacy. Their war was never directly fought
between armies on the ground, but rather indirectly through political, technological and economic confrontation, dubbed the “Cold War”. The conflict was pervaded by a ghostly nightmare: the atomic bomb, the ultimate weapon never seen
before in history, capable of destroying all humankind.
The US was the first to build the bomb thanks to the work of scientists such as
Enrico Fermi, Robert Oppenheimer and Edward Teller. The Russians managed to
build it only years later, thanks to the physicist Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov.
3
During WWII, Adolf Hitler had financed nuclear research but Germany did not
develop the atomic bomb, as the Nazis were sceptical about the work of physicist
3
Rhodes, Richard. 1986. The Making of the Atomic Bomb. New York: Simon & Schuster.
14 The Space Race: Moondust