50th Anniversary of The Space Age - 1957 - 2007

Fifty years ago today on Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched
Sputnik, humanity's first artificial satellite, thereby ushering in the
Space Age. Image Credit: NASA
It was just a BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.... and around the world it went. Radio
Ham Operators picked it up, the news picked it up, and people looked up.

Sputnik was launched and a month later Sputnik 2 was launched with a dog
named Laika.
- LRK -

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http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/10/dayintech_1004
Oct. 4, 1957: Russ Puts Man-Made Moon in Orbit!
By Tony Long Email 10.04.07 | 12:00 AM

1957: The Space Age dawns a little sooner than expected with the
successful launch of Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union. It's a pivotal
moment, the kind of event that -- five decades later -- still has people
asking, "Do you remember where you were when �?"

But Sputnik may not have been quite the world-beater it seemed at the
time. In recent interviews leading up to the 50th anniversary of the
launch, Boris Chertok, one of the founders of the Soviet space program,
admitted that Sputnik was something of a lash-up, a hastily put-together
gamble using a spare rocket and a satellite assembled from what was on hand.

Nevertheless, as it had been with the sudden emergence of the USSR as a
nuclear power eight years earlier, the American public was caught off
guard by Sputnik and frightened by the implications of a successful
Soviet rocket launch. If the Soviets could put a basketball-sized
artificial satellite into orbit, they could certainly put a
nuclear-tipped missile into a target in the United States.
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Orbiting satellites is nothing to speak of today. We communicate around
the world with their assistance. Sangad watches Thai TV in our front
room in California U.S.A. by way of Telstar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_television_networks_by_country

The grandchildren have a cell phone. Even I have a cell phone.
You can play interactive shoot-um up games on the Internet.
http://www.blizzard.com/starcraft/

So who will care if we go to the Moon?
Who will care if Japan, China, India, etc. survey, mine, exploit, and
generally open up a new space frontier.
- LRK -

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game

Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a genre of
online role-playing video games (RPGs) in which a large number of
players interact with one another in a virtual world.

As in all RPGs, players assume the role of a fictional character (most
commonly in a fantasy setting)[1] and take control over many of that
character's actions[2]. MMORPGs are distinguished from single-player or
small multi-player RPGs by the number of players, and by the game's
persistent world, usually hosted by the game's publisher, which
continues to exist and evolve while the player is away from the game.
MMORPGs should also be distinguished from their text-based relatives,
sometimes called MU*s (more specifically MUDs, MUSHes, MOOs etc.
depending on the codebase, which are generally free games based on an
open source codebase. [2]

MMORPGs are very popular throughout the world, with combined global
memberships in subscription and non-subscription games exceeding 15
million as of 2006.[3] Worldwide revenues for MMORPGs exceeded half a
billion dollars in 2005,[4] and Western revenues exceeded one billion
USD in 2006.[5]
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Well maybe something will come of Russia and NASA working together to
find a watering hole, but who will put a fence around it?
- LRK -

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http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL0350549020071003
U.S. and Russia sign pact to hunt for water on Mars, moon
Wed Oct 3, 2007 7:27pm EDT

By Michael Stott
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and the United States, the world's great space
powers, celebrated the eve of the first satellite launch 50 years ago
with a pact to use Russian technology on NASA missions to seek water on
the moon and Mars.

NASA administrator Michael Griffin signed the cooperation deal with his
Russian counterpart at a ceremony on Wednesday at the U.S. embassy
residence in Moscow attended by cosmonauts and astronauts and featuring
a recorded greeting from space.

Both sides avoided mention of superpower rivalry during the Cold War and
recent clashes over U.S. "Star Wars"-style missile defense plans to
concentrate on what they had achieved together, first in the
Apollo-Soyuz joint mission of 1975 and later with the International
Space Station.

"What better example to set for the citizens of our countries and the
world about what is possible if we work together in a spirit of
cooperation, partnership and friendship?" NASA flight engineer Clayton
Anderson said in a video message sent from the International Space Station.
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Should be interesting times. Now if you would just put chemicals back
into the kids chemistry set, maybe we would get some kids interested in
chemistry.

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http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/chemistry_pr.html
Don't Try This at Home
Garage chemistry used to be a rite of passage for geeky kids. But in
their search for terrorist cells and meth labs, authorities are making a
federal case out of DIY science.
By Steve Silberman
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Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/
Cute splash flash page - Beep, Beep, Beep
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http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/spaceage_splash/index.html

http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/
Sputnik and The Dawn of the Space Age

History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully
launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the
size of a beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in diameter), weighed only
83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth
on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military,
technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was
a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the
U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.

The story begins in 1952, when the International Council of Scientific
Unions decided to establish July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958, as the
International Geophysical Year (IGY)
<http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/igy.html> because the scientists knew
that the cycles of solar activity would be at a high point then. In
October 1954, the council adopted a resolution calling for artificial
satellites to be launched during the IGY to map the Earth's surface.

In July 1955, the White House announced plans
<http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/17.html> to launch an Earth-orbiting
satellite for the IGY and solicited proposals from various Government
research agencies to undertake development. In September 1955, the Naval
Research Laboratory's Vanguard
<http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/TOC.html> proposal was chosen to
represent the U.S. during the IGY.

The Sputnik launch changed everything. As a technical achievement,
Sputnik caught the world's attention and the American public off-guard.
Its size was more impressive than Vanguard's intended 3.5-pound payload.
In addition, the public feared that the Soviets' ability to launch
satellites also translated into the capability to launch ballistic
missiles that could carry nuclear weapons from Europe to the U.S. Then
the Soviets struck again; on November 3, Sputnik II was launched,
carrying a much heavier payload, including a dog named Laika.

Immediately after the Sputnik I launch in October, the U.S. Defense
Department responded to the political furor by approving funding for
another U.S. satellite project. As a simultaneous alternative to
Vanguard, Wernher von Braun and his Army Redstone Arsenal team began
work on the Explorer <http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/expinfo.html>
project.

On January 31, 1958, the tide changed, when the United States
successfully launched Explorer I. This satellite carried a small
scientific payload that eventually discovered the magnetic radiation
belts around the Earth, named after principal investigator James Van
Allen. The Explorer program continued as a successful ongoing series of
lightweight, scientifically useful spacecraft.

The Sputnik launch also led directly to the creation of National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In July 1958, Congress
passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act (commonly called the
"Space Act") <http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/spaceact.html>,
which created NASA as of October 1, 1958 from the National Advisory
Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and other government agencies.

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2007 October 4
From:jeff@thespacereview.com (Jeff Foust)
Sender: owner-spacereview@klx.com
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: jeff@thespacereview.com

Welcome to this special issue of The Space Review:

Looking back versus looking ahead
---
The 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik is a natural occasion
to take measure of what we have -- and have not -- accomplished in
space.  Jeff Foust describes how this is a more appropriate time to
start looking ahead.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/972/1

Sputnik's blastoff: the terrifying view from the launch site
---
The launch of Sputnik was the first time a rocket had deliberately
flown a trajectory intended to place something in orbit.  Jim Oberg
describes how, to the people witnessing the launch, that flight
actually looked frightening.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/971/1

SpaceWar 2057
---
Sputnik opened up a whole new environment for the military to
exploit, but one that has been used to support combat rather than as
a battlefield itself.  Dwayne Day explains why the slowing pace of
military space developments makes it unlikely we'll see revolutionary
changes in the military's use of space over the next half-century.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/970/1

Sputnik in perspective: the totalitarian heritage
---
Sputnik was one of the most famous products of one of the worst
totaltarian regimes to exist in human history.  Taylor Dinerman
examines why the Soviet Union, like Nazi Germany before it, was drawn
to rocketry.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/969/1

The Exploration of, and Conquest of, the Moon!
---
Journeys to the Moon were on the minds of aerospace experts and the
public alike in the years prior to the launch of Sputnik.  Ken Murphy
reviews two 1950s-era books that took very different approaches to
how humans might go to the Moon.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/968/1


Editor's Note: The Space Review will return to its regular weekly
schedule on Tuesday, October 9.


We appreciate any feedback you may have about these articles as well as
any other questions, comments, or suggestions about The Space Review.
We're also actively soliciting articles to publish in future issues, so
if you have an article or article idea that you think would be of
interest, please email me.

Until next week,

Jeff Foust
Editor, The Space Review
jeff@thespacereview.com

==
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For more information please visit http://www.thespacereview.com

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NASA Science News for October 4, 2007

Fifty years after the launch of Sputnik kicked off the Space Age, an
ultra-modern probe heading for Pluto is using retro Sputnik-like tones
to communicate with Earth.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/04oct_beaconmonitor.htm?list965414

Check out our RSS feed at http://science.nasa.gov/rss.xml!

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071003/ap_on_sc/space_race_1

By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer /Wed Oct 3, 11:23 AM ET

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Soviets beat the United States at getting a
satellite, and a man, into space. Now, the Chinese may get to the moon
before the U.S. can make a return visit.

Fifty years after Sputnik became the world's first artificial satellite,
a new race is under way with the finish line on the moon. NASA, the
former lunar champion, already is predicting defeat.

"I personally believe that China will be back on the moon before we
are," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said in a low-key lecture in
Washington two weeks ago, marking the space agency's 50th anniversary,
still a year away.

"I think when that happens, Americans will not like it. But they will
just have to not like it."

Griffin's candor startled many in the space community, but insiders
acknowledge the reality. China has pulled off two manned spaceflights
with its own rockets and is eager to head for the moon.

NASA has a 2020 deadline for returning Americans to the moon. China
would like to beat that.

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http://www.newsblogpk.com/sputnik-50th-anniversary-sputniks-anniversary-raises-q
uestions-about-future-of-space-exploration/
Sputnik - 50th Anniversary, sputnik�s anniversary raises questions about
future of space exploration

Fifty years ago next week, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I " little
more than a beeping metal ball " into space. Never before had an
artificial object orbited the Earth.
That achievement on Oct. 4, 1957, stunned and alarmed America. It also
triggered an epic space race between the world's superpowers that would
culminate nearly 12 years later, when Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong
stepped onto the moon. The Soviets never made it there.

"Sputnik I changed the world," NASA administrator Michael Griffin says.
"It changed history.'
THE SPACE RACE: How it unfolded

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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