NASA Becomes a Boomer

by Greg Petty
February 2009

One of America’s premier agencies, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, turned 50 on October 1, 2008. Known around the world simply as NASA, it is probably, along with the military branches the one agency that most Americans would identify as providing our nation with tremendous achievements and scientific advances. We are clearly proud of NASA and aware that exploring is in mankind’s genes. Humans are, first and foremost inveterate explorers.

Space Shuttle Endeavor on Launch Pad. Photo courtesy of NASA.

The launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik, on October 4, 1957 jolted America out of its complacency and spurned a renewed emphasis on science and educational achievement. The great race to space was on. America answered with the launch of the aptly named Explorer I satellite in late January 1958. Explorer I weighed only 30 pounds and was responsible for discovering the Van Allen radiation belts.

Those of us who are in the front end of the Boomer demographic grew up with the agency and have witnessed together both the great triumphs and tragedies that accompany exploration. My memory of Alan Shepard’s launch into space and John Glenn’s three circumnavigations of the earth are still vivid. I can remember watching every launch and holding my breath during the recovery operation until the capsule was opened and one of our astronaut heroes emerged.

As we all now know from watching The Right Stuff, our first seven astronauts were tremendously talented, brave and physically strong. We really did not know what was going to happen to their bodies when they left the confines of the earth or what would or could happen to the capsules and operational systems. That’s why it took the risk-taking mentality of test pilots to become our first travelers in space.

The Mercury program advances were incorporated into its successor Gemini. We now knew we could survive in space but Gemini’s achievements demonstrated that we could also execute complex rendezvous and docking operations and even leave the spacecraft for extra-vehicular activity (EVA), performed by Ed White. In 1961 President Kennedy challenged our country’s greatest minds to “…achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” Thus was born the Apollo program.

July 1969 witnessed Neil Armstrong descending the Lunar Module’s stairs and while setting foot on the moon uttering, “One small step for a man—one giant leap for mankind.” In my mind this was the crowning scientific and technical achievement of the 20th century. Apollo lunar missions ended with Apollo 17 in December 1972. The 70s saw the launch of Pioneer 10 to Jupiter, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project the first international human spaceflight effort, Skylab and the launches of Voyager I and II deep solar system missions.

Hubble attached to Space Shuttle. Photo courtesy of NASA.

The 80s were dominated by the Space Shuttle, the 90s by the deployment of the world’s greatest and most successful science explorer, the Hubble Space Telescope, international agreement to build the International Space Station, and the Mars missions culminating in Mars Pathfinder with its rover Sojourner. I remember sitting at home logging onto the NASA site and watching the rover travel the surface of Mars. How fantastic that was! We began the 21st century with deployment of the International Space Station.

This year we will have the Lunar Rover launch in February or March and the final Hubble repair mission in May. Hubble should be able to operate through 2014 and will be fitted with fantastic new instruments such as a high-resolution wide-field camera and Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. I cannot wait to see the new discoveries Hubble will provide us. The next decade will see the development of a replacement for the Space Shuttle called Orion. The Orion spacecraft will carry astronauts to the Moon and Mars and will possess improved rocket propulsion systems.

I will not even try to recount all of the achievements of NASA over a fifty-year span of time… they are simply too numerous. The good news is that I do not have to do that. In celebration of its 50th anniversary, NASA has produced a celebratory Web site and published a tremendous magazine “NASA: Fifty Years of Exploration and Discovery.”

The Web site contains video clips of the entire history of the programs, a 50th anniversary video, timeline, Phoenix Mars Lander and links to more information and photos. Gather your grandkids, children and friends and log onto this site nasa.gov/50th/home/index.html The magazine was produced by Faircount Publishing and makes a fine gift for any aspiring young scientist or anyone of any age interested in NASA.

In July Boom! will have an article exploring the huge variety of benefits that NASA’s science and technology has provided our country and the world. Although this is a little late, Happy 50th NASA!