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

162 reMeMBerINg the SpaCe age
space. 12 Time made Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev its “Man of the Year,” and
its editors wrote that “the U.S. had been challenged and bested.” 13
as “space race” and “crisis” became the dominant media frames of the
Sputnik moment, eisenhower recognized that his assurances, even if secretly
informed by surveillance photographs and knowledge of america’s own
reconnaissance and military satellite programs, ofered insufcient response.
the publicity value of U.S. rockets blasting from launch pads, of american
satellites circling earth, and of homegrown adventurers cruising outer space
was inescapable. eisenhower endorsed a speeded-up space program and
supported the creation in July 1958 of NaSa. the president, in efect, entered
a seven-person team, the Mercury astronauts, into the manned-fight event of
the space race. NaSa and manned spacefight—featuring astronauts with “the
right stuf”—became the public focus of the space race. 14
the establishment of NaSa placed the human piloted space program
in the spotlight and under civilian control, but the outcry over Sputnik also
strengthened the military’s case for stepped up ofensive and defensive systems.
less visible to the public than NaSa, the Strategic air Command (SaC)
successfully promoted a great acceleration in the ballistic-missile arms race. and
deploying military reconnaissance satellites took on greater urgency. Moreover,
spending increased for many other unmanned satellites that specialized in
weather, communications, and scientifc investigations. 15 Strong disagreements
over the proper emphasis of space spending (scientifc vs. military; manned vs.
unmanned) persisted. Still, the Sputnik moment of 1957 intensifed both the
civilian and military aspects of superpower competition in space.
the responses to the two Sputniks reverberated far beyond bankrolling
programs for space exploration. Who could run such programs? Were the
american schools failing to produce the scientists and engineers of the future?
a great fever of education reform gripped post-Sputnik america. In September
1958, Congress passed the National defense education act, which authorized
the allocation of one billion dollars over seven years to develop “those skills
essential to the national defense.” eisenhower had earlier opposed the principle
12. divine, The Sputnik Challenge, pp. 62-65. Some prominent scientists broke with the eisenhower
administration by seizing on the Sputnik crisis to argue for increased federal spending on
scientifc research. See allan a. Needell, Science, Cold War, and the American State (australia:
harwood academic publishers, 2000), p. 148.
13. McCurdy, Space, pp. 75-76; Time, January 6, 1958.
14. linda t. Krug, Presidential Perspectives on Space Exploration: Guiding Metaphors from Eisenhower to
Bush (Westport, Ct: praeger, 1991), pp. 23-42 examines the metaphor of a space race. For a
compact overview, annotated bibliography, and set of documents on the U.S. space program
generally, see roger d. launius, ed., Frontiers of Space Exploration (Westport, Ct: greenwood
press, 1998).
15. Crouch, Aiming for the Stars, pp. 148-166; divine, The Sputnik Challenge, pp. 34-42, 69,
84-85, 110-127.