On October 4, 1957, the first artificial Earth satellite was launched into low Earth orbit. Sputnik 1, created by the Russians, became the first satellite to go into space. This great feat came as a shock to all Americans, as they were suddenly losing to the Soviet Union in this department, launching the great competition for everything between the two countries. The initial orbit of Sputnik 1 was actually 310 miles lower than intended, and after 16 seconds of the launch, a fuel regulator failed. Nevertheless, the satellite made it into orbit and stayed there for three months, completing 1,440 orbits of the Earth, equivalent to about 43 million miles.
The launch of Sputnik 1 marked the beginning of the Space Race, as the two great powers of the world, the US and Russia, were now racing to see who could accomplish more. Of course, the US would put a man on the moon in 1969, but the Russians had another first. On April 12, 1961, astronaut Yuri Gagarin commanded the Vostok spacecraft and became the first human ever in space. Gagarin orbited the Earth once, at a maximum height of 203 miles above sea level. Although there were some failures, yet again (including the need for Gagarin to parachute down to Earth due to the lack of reverse thrusters), the Soviet Union led in the race for space.
This new age of satellites and activities (quite literally out of this world) marked a new fear in the people of the world. Now that satellites and missiles were readily available by either government, what was stopping them from placing nuclear warheads on top of them and waging war and destruction from afar? The answer is, nothing really, apart from a joint fear of total destruction. These newly gained powers had to be respected, put in good hands, and taken care of.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1
https://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/
https://www.space.com/16159-first-man-in-space.html
Even today world powers continue to try to outpace their rivals in missile technology. Russia has recently deployed a new hypersonic missile that is considered almost unstoppable by existing defense systems. Hopefully the fear of total destruction that you discussed will prevent these missiles from being used.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cnn.com/2019/12/28/europe/russia-weapons-intl/index.html
This was a very informative article that captured the significance of the Russians reaching outer space before the Americans. At the time and even now we like to think of ourselves at the best at everything. That's why the Russians reaching space first was like a giant slap in the face. It woke America up and boosted the education system/programs. Eventually, that all that effort to boost scientific programs in America translated into getting a man on the moon effectively ending the Space Race. Nonetheless, today we possess weapons that can easily wipe humans off the face of the earth and you are right we must take very good care of these weapons.
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