Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

About the Editor
Steven J. Dick is the Chief Historian for NASA and
Director of the NASA History Division. He worked
as an astronomer and historian of science at the U.S.
Naval Observatory in Washington, DC for 24 years
before coming to NASA Headquarters in 2003.
Among his recent books are Societal Impact of
Spacefight (NASA SP 4801, 2007, edited with Roger
Launius), Critical Issues in the History of Spacefight
(NASA SP -4702,
2006, edited with Roger Launius),
The Living Universe: NASA and the Development of
Astrobiology (2004, with James Strick), and Sky and
Ocean Joined: The U.S. Naval Observatory, 1830 - 2000
(2003). Dr. Dick is the recipient of the Navy
Meritorious Civilian Service Medal, two NASA
Group Achievement Awards, and the 2006 LeRoy E.
Doggett Prize for Historical Astronomy of the
American Astronomical Society.
On the back cover: Fifty years after the Space Age
began, the International Space Station orbits the
Earth. It is the result of a cooperative efort of 16
nations led by the United States.
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NASA SP-2008-4703
here is no doubt that the last 50 years have
witnessed numerous accomplishments in
what has often been termed “the new
ocean” of space, harkening back to a long
tradition of exploration. Earth is now circled by
thousands of satellites, looking both upward into
space at distant galaxies and downward toward Earth
for reconnaissance, weather, communications, nav-
igation, and remote sensing. Robotic space probes
have explored most of the solar system, returning
astonishing images of alien worlds. Space telescopes
have probed the depths of the universe at many
wavelengths. In the dramatic arena of human
spacefight, 12 men have walked on the surface of the
Moon, the Space Shuttle has had 119 fights, and the
International Space Station—a cooperative efort of
16 nations—is almost “core complete.” In addition to
Russia, which put the frst human into space in April
1961, China has now joined the human spacefight
club with two Shenzhou fights, and Europe is
readying for its entry into the feld as well.
After 50 years of robotic and human spacefight,
and as serious plans are being implemented to
return humans to the Moon and continue on to Mars,
it is a good time to step back and ask questions that
those in the heat of battle have had but little time to
ask.What has the Space Age meant? What if the Space
Age had never occurred? Has it been, and is it still,
important for a creative society to explore space? How
do we, and how should we, remember the Space Age?
On the cover: The Space Age begins. Top left: A
technician puts the fnishing touches on Sputnik I in
the fall of 1957. Top middle and right: The Soviet
Union launched Sputnik I — the frst artifcial Earth
satellite — on October 4, 1957. Bottom: Explorer
1 — America’s frst Earth satellite — was launched
January 31, 1958. Pictured left to right are William
H. Pickering, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
that built and operated the satellite; James A. van
Allen of the State University of Iowa who designed
and built the instrument that discovered the Van
Allen Radiation Belts; and Wernher von Braun,
leader of the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal team
which built the frst stage Redstone rocket that
launched Explorer 1. The photo was taken at a press
conference at the National Academy of Sciences
building in the early hours of February 1, 1958.