Rockets and Space Travel
Kathryn Hopper
Background
The fascination with the heavens has been apparent throughout history. The first known steps toward viewing the universe in a scientific manner were taken at least 5000 years ago in Babylonia and Egypt. Around 3000 B.C. Babylonian astrologer-astronomers began making methodical observations of the heavens. By 1900 B.C. data about the planetary motions of Venus, Mars, and Jupiter had been recorded. In Plato’s cosmology, the Earth was the center of the universe. From about 1580 to 1720 Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton helped to create the picture of the universe that we know of today.[1]
A rocket is a reaction device, which works in accordance with Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion which is “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Konstantin EduardovitchTsiolkolvsky of Russia, Robert Hutchings Goddard of the United States, and Hermann Oberth, a Hungarian-born German, all independently realized that the way to reach space was through the use of rockets.Goddardbelieved that “the only way to prepare the mind for the formation of suggestion is to use moderation and activity.” He later used this belief to track ideas in the development of rockets.[2]Tsiolkovsky said, “Jules Verne---he directed my thought along certain channels, then came a desire, and after that, the work of the mind.” Tsiolkovsky designed the multistage rocket technique that could enable us “either to obtain high cosmic velocities, or to employ comparatively small amounts of propellant components.” “Outside of a dedicated handful of experimenters, talk of rockets and space travel was viewed as crackpot by the public and as unscientific by most scientists.”[3]
Interplanetary Communications published by the Soviet Union was a 9 volume work, 7 of which had been published before either the United States or Great Britain had published any works on space flight.[4]By World War II, every major combatant nation had arocket program.[5] The German V-2 which was also known as the A-4, was the largest and most advanced missile in the world up to the early 1940s. The A-4 No. 2 was the first guided missile to exceed the speed of sound and had a maximum altitude of over 50 miles. “The V-2 program, in addition to giving Americans experience in launching large vehicles,gave valuable information on every aspect of rocket flights and added considerably to information about the upper atmosphere.”[6]
Turning Point
On October 4, 1954, the Russians launched Sputnik 1, the first man-made satellite to enter orbit and January 31, 1958 the United States launched the Explorer 1. The launching of the Explorer 1 caused the United States government to appropriate funds to create the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The main goal of NASA was to create boosters especially designed for launching payloads into space. NASA encountered multiple problems when trying to do so. The first of these problems was that the spacecraftshad to be streamlined so they could travel quickly through the atmosphere and not be hindered by frictional drag. The second problem that had to be solved was that an onboard power source had to be developed in order for the craft to be tracked by using radio, observation, special cameras, and radar.[7]
Effect
By 1960 at leastone of the four classes of satellites: communications, weather, navigation, and survey satellites were in use by the United States. “With satellite systems there no longer was a barrier tocommunications between continents and acrossoceans.”[8]Landsat 1 was able to survey the earth and found new features making it easier and faster to make more accurate maps of remote territory. This satellite also provided maps ofagricultural areas to helpin land-use planning.[9]
In April 1961, the Soviets orbited the first man. On May 5, 1961Americans caught up in the space race and Alan Shepard was the first American in space.[10]In July 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men to step foot on the moon. As people watched Armstrong on the first televised space exploration, they sawArmstrong step on the moon and heard the soon to become famous line, “That’s one small step for aman, one giant leap for mankind.”[11] The first landing on the moon ended themoon race andbegan the firsthand scientific exploration of the moon. The near disasterof Apollo 13 led the United States and USSR to work together to prepare for joint rescue missions in order to help prevent any future disasters in space.[12] “The moonwalkers…were emissaries of our species, not of a nation of political ideology.”[13] The Apollo flights gave the world a new way to view the earth and made people realize that as arace, we had to take action to protect earth’s resources and preserve life on earth.[14]
[1]Von Braun, Wernher. Space Travel:A History.1985: 2-8.
[2] Goddard, Esther C. The Papers of Robert H. Goddard.1970: 61.
[3]Von Braun, Wernher. Space Travel: A History:40-43.
[4]Von Braun, Wernher. Space Travel: A History: 61.
[5]Von Braun, Wernher. Space Travel: A History: 86.
[6]Von Braun, Wernher. Space Travel: A History: 125.
[7]Coard, Edna A. Space Travel. 1978:23-33.
[8]Coard, Edna A. Space Travel: 47.
[9]Coard, Edna A. Space Travel:56.
[10]Coard, Edna A. Space Travel: 100.
[11]Coard, Edna A. Space Travel: 131.
[12]Coard, Edna A. Space Travel: 136-139.
[13]Tyson, Neil DeGrasse. Space Chronicles: Facingthe Ultimate Frontier. 2012: 5.
[14]Coard, Edna A. Space Travel:136-139.
Bibliography
Coard, Edna A. Space Travel.Air Force Junior ROTC, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. 1978:
23-139.
Collins, Martin J. Space Race: The U.S.-U.S.S.R. Competition to Reach the Moon. Martin J.
Collins and the Division of Space History, National Air and Space Museum, the
Smithsonian Institution. 1999.
Gatland, Kenneth W. and Kunesch, Anthony M. Space Travel.Nichols, Herbert B., reviewer.
The ScientificMonthly.79.1. July 1954.
Goddard, Esther C., editor. The Papers of Robert H. Goddard.Volume 1: 1898-1924. McGraw-
Hill Book Company. 1970: 61.
Tyson, Neil DeGrasse. Space Chronicles: Facingthe Ultimate Frontier. New York: W.W.
Norton & Company, Inc. 2012: 5.
Kathryn Hopper
Background
The fascination with the heavens has been apparent throughout history. The first known steps toward viewing the universe in a scientific manner were taken at least 5000 years ago in Babylonia and Egypt. Around 3000 B.C. Babylonian astrologer-astronomers began making methodical observations of the heavens. By 1900 B.C. data about the planetary motions of Venus, Mars, and Jupiter had been recorded. In Plato’s cosmology, the Earth was the center of the universe. From about 1580 to 1720 Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton helped to create the picture of the universe that we know of today.[1]
A rocket is a reaction device, which works in accordance with Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion which is “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Konstantin EduardovitchTsiolkolvsky of Russia, Robert Hutchings Goddard of the United States, and Hermann Oberth, a Hungarian-born German, all independently realized that the way to reach space was through the use of rockets.Goddardbelieved that “the only way to prepare the mind for the formation of suggestion is to use moderation and activity.” He later used this belief to track ideas in the development of rockets.[2]Tsiolkovsky said, “Jules Verne---he directed my thought along certain channels, then came a desire, and after that, the work of the mind.” Tsiolkovsky designed the multistage rocket technique that could enable us “either to obtain high cosmic velocities, or to employ comparatively small amounts of propellant components.” “Outside of a dedicated handful of experimenters, talk of rockets and space travel was viewed as crackpot by the public and as unscientific by most scientists.”[3]
Interplanetary Communications published by the Soviet Union was a 9 volume work, 7 of which had been published before either the United States or Great Britain had published any works on space flight.[4]By World War II, every major combatant nation had arocket program.[5] The German V-2 which was also known as the A-4, was the largest and most advanced missile in the world up to the early 1940s. The A-4 No. 2 was the first guided missile to exceed the speed of sound and had a maximum altitude of over 50 miles. “The V-2 program, in addition to giving Americans experience in launching large vehicles,gave valuable information on every aspect of rocket flights and added considerably to information about the upper atmosphere.”[6]
Turning Point
On October 4, 1954, the Russians launched Sputnik 1, the first man-made satellite to enter orbit and January 31, 1958 the United States launched the Explorer 1. The launching of the Explorer 1 caused the United States government to appropriate funds to create the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The main goal of NASA was to create boosters especially designed for launching payloads into space. NASA encountered multiple problems when trying to do so. The first of these problems was that the spacecraftshad to be streamlined so they could travel quickly through the atmosphere and not be hindered by frictional drag. The second problem that had to be solved was that an onboard power source had to be developed in order for the craft to be tracked by using radio, observation, special cameras, and radar.[7]
Effect
By 1960 at leastone of the four classes of satellites: communications, weather, navigation, and survey satellites were in use by the United States. “With satellite systems there no longer was a barrier tocommunications between continents and acrossoceans.”[8]Landsat 1 was able to survey the earth and found new features making it easier and faster to make more accurate maps of remote territory. This satellite also provided maps ofagricultural areas to helpin land-use planning.[9]
In April 1961, the Soviets orbited the first man. On May 5, 1961Americans caught up in the space race and Alan Shepard was the first American in space.[10]In July 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men to step foot on the moon. As people watched Armstrong on the first televised space exploration, they sawArmstrong step on the moon and heard the soon to become famous line, “That’s one small step for aman, one giant leap for mankind.”[11] The first landing on the moon ended themoon race andbegan the firsthand scientific exploration of the moon. The near disasterof Apollo 13 led the United States and USSR to work together to prepare for joint rescue missions in order to help prevent any future disasters in space.[12] “The moonwalkers…were emissaries of our species, not of a nation of political ideology.”[13] The Apollo flights gave the world a new way to view the earth and made people realize that as arace, we had to take action to protect earth’s resources and preserve life on earth.[14]
[1]Von Braun, Wernher. Space Travel:A History.1985: 2-8.
[2] Goddard, Esther C. The Papers of Robert H. Goddard.1970: 61.
[3]Von Braun, Wernher. Space Travel: A History:40-43.
[4]Von Braun, Wernher. Space Travel: A History: 61.
[5]Von Braun, Wernher. Space Travel: A History: 86.
[6]Von Braun, Wernher. Space Travel: A History: 125.
[7]Coard, Edna A. Space Travel. 1978:23-33.
[8]Coard, Edna A. Space Travel: 47.
[9]Coard, Edna A. Space Travel:56.
[10]Coard, Edna A. Space Travel: 100.
[11]Coard, Edna A. Space Travel: 131.
[12]Coard, Edna A. Space Travel: 136-139.
[13]Tyson, Neil DeGrasse. Space Chronicles: Facingthe Ultimate Frontier. 2012: 5.
[14]Coard, Edna A. Space Travel:136-139.
Bibliography
Coard, Edna A. Space Travel.Air Force Junior ROTC, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. 1978:
23-139.
Collins, Martin J. Space Race: The U.S.-U.S.S.R. Competition to Reach the Moon. Martin J.
Collins and the Division of Space History, National Air and Space Museum, the
Smithsonian Institution. 1999.
Gatland, Kenneth W. and Kunesch, Anthony M. Space Travel.Nichols, Herbert B., reviewer.
The ScientificMonthly.79.1. July 1954.
Goddard, Esther C., editor. The Papers of Robert H. Goddard.Volume 1: 1898-1924. McGraw-
Hill Book Company. 1970: 61.
Tyson, Neil DeGrasse. Space Chronicles: Facingthe Ultimate Frontier. New York: W.W.
Norton & Company, Inc. 2012: 5.