Joshua E. Shiver Dr. Wayne Partridge ENGL 1101 26 September 2012 America’s Next Frontier is Out of This World On July 20, 1969, at 10:56 p.m., with more than half a billion people watching on television, Neil Armstrong became the first human to ever set foot on another world. He climbed down the Eagle's ladder onto the moon and proclaimed, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” (Nasa.gov). This was a very exciting time in American history. Americans are known for their adventuresome spirit, always wanting to explore further and discover more. In 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner gave a speech to the American Historical Association.
Each accomplishment recognized represented an upgrade in score for those who were keeping tabs (everyone really). Yet even though the outcome was favorable for a certain organization in points the real “winner” was determined by the transporting a human to the moon, first. The beginning was marked on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet Union (USSR) launched a satellite into orbit (The USA hadn’t done anything close to this at this point) around the Earth. Sputnick 1 (as it was named) was then followed by Sputnick 2 making an even bigger impact on the USSR’s standing considering it now became the first satellite to carry life (a dog named Lika) from Earth to space. And, in an attempt to catch up (as they probably
The author says that we should look at the moon as a “nighty rebuke” not as a mystery. The moon should remind us about something that our country did and we should wonder why we haven’t gone back. E. Krauthammer says we betrayed the achievements of the space program by just forgetting about this achievement like it meant nothing. Summary: In “The Moon We Left Behind”, Charles Krauthammer writes about his expressions about us achieving going to the moon and never going back and forgetting about this great achievement. He finds it astonishing that we postponed going back.
The Space Race between the United States of America and Soviet Union during the Cold War was not only a race between two “nuclear” countries, but much more a contest between two geniuses: Wernher von Braun and Sergey Korolyov. We have heard different opinions about the winner of this race, but thanks to the BBC’s documentary the big picture became a lot clearer for me, although there are still some questions for me- which one of two geniuses would be the winner of the race and how people suffered because of paying taxes that went directly to “nowhere” ? After World War II, it became obvious that the world will be divided in two: capitalistic and communistic countries. Both sides, especially communists, desperately needed to show the people in their countries that their society system is better than the other one. The first selection would have been war, but as both (U.S and Soviets) had nuclear weapons, the risk for a global disaster was too big.
Both countries spent billions of dollars on their space programs, because they believed that with controlling space they could have a more powerful country (Breuer 27). When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik and it became the first satellite in space, people of the United States and the world were scared of what the Soviets were going to do with this (Breuer 78-79). The Soviets continued to make major advances in the space race. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik II, which carried a dog into space, and in 1961 the Soviets had the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin (Timeline of Space Explorations 1). In 1958, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created (Timeline of Space Exploration 1).
To further rub in victory, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was reported mocking the Americans with disposition to the Germans. “If Germans helped Russians, why don’t Germans help the United States? After all, the American troops seized the chief designer of the V-2, took him to America, and now he builds rockets out there” (Lasby 6). Khrushchev served as an excellent antagonist to help drive the American space effort. His mockery must have furthered the determination that many of the scientists had during those
Future space efforts may be handicapped by this still-widespread view, typified by the recent statement of French space minister Claude Allegre, criticizing the International Space Station, that he was unaware of any important scientific discovery made by an astronaut (Space News, 22-28 June 1998). The case for Apollo as a key element in Landsat begins with the statement by the late W. T. Pecora (1969), that Landsat's precursor concept, the Earth Resources Observation Satellite (EROS) program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), was "conceived in 1966 largely as a direct result of the demonstrated utility of Mercury and Gemini orbital photography to Earth resource studies." A contemporary review of satellite imagery in this journal (Merifield et al., 1969) devoted its first six pages to the "superb" Gemini and Apollo 70-mm geologist (Fary, photographs. A similar paper, by a U ~ G S 1967) argued for EROS, illustrating its value with several ''magnificent" Gemini photographs. However, the link between EROS and Apollo is a complex one, needing further discussion.
If the American government has taught its civilians anything, it is that not everything is as it seems. Appearances can be deceiving; something may look real when, in fact, it’s not. Sometimes something can be disguised well while other times the disguiser or disguisers leave behind evidence of the truth. From these clues left behind people develop conspiracy theories about what they think actually happened. Whether it was the loss of America's greatest presidents or Americans landing on the moon, conspiracy was not far behind.
Apollo It all began in 1959 when thoughts of space travel were considered to be near impossible. We were in a war with the Soviet Union, but this war however, did not include gunfights and mass killing. It was a race to see who could develop the best technology and advance the furthest in space travel. They were many stages to the space race, but my favorite was the Apollo missions. The Apollo program was conceived in 1960, but it wasn’t until May 25, 1961 that Kennedy had given his speech to announce his support for the program.
I had not watched U2’s halftime show during the Super Bowl ten years ago. I watched it on YouTube years later to digest the production and its smooth power and spiritual energy. What I saw was Bono parading in his US flag jacket on Time magazine. I flinched, fearing Bono and all that he symbolized had become an obvious pawn for the war fervor of Bush and Blair. I hesitantly agreed with a critic who wrote, “If rock is symbolic of rebellion, Bono is blasphemous to its spirit.” Since I loved the album “All That You Can’t Leave Behind,” and having an emotional struggle with the Super Bowl show until the drop of “How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb” in 2004, I look back at the Super Bowl with a kind of animated aloofness and grateful awe.