The American Space Program

Since mankind’s beginning, it has always felt the need to explore beyond farther than it has already explored; whether it be the crossing of the Atlantic to the New World or the exploration of the land acquired through the Louisiana Purchase, humans have always felt the need to explore and study what they do not know (SV;SV). But now since the world has been near scraped dry of new places to explore, where does mankind turn? Of course the answer is space, the vast and great unknown. One of the largest contributors to the human exploration of space is none other than those of the United States of America who have taken on large goals with the risk of lives for the sake of knowledge while always trying to improve in order to reach farther from our home planet.
Over the years since its beginning, the American space program has executed many major successful projects that were lead mainly by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, in which America completed without the assistance of other countries. Perhaps the most well-known feat of NASA was the world’s first moon landing, performed by Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr., which occurred on July 20th, 1969 (Andrews). This was an outstanding achievement considering that NASA had competed against the Soviet Union in order to put the first man on the moon and came out on top even though the Soviet Union had had a head start. But even though the moon landing is the most well-known, other projects have produced far more useful results. For instance, the Hubble Space Telescope is considered to be “one of the finest research tools in astronomical history,” and the 44 foot-long telescope was sent into space on April 24, 1990; however, the telescope initially had a probl...

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...hrough it all, America has accumulated a beginning knowledge of the endless universe. Grissom sums it up nicely in that though there is danger in the exploration of space, the “conquest” of space is worth any number of risks.

Works Cited

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Desjarlais, Jr, Orville F. “Stepping into the unknown.” Airman. 01 Sep. 2003: 2. eLibrary. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
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Today, USA. “NASA: 50 Planets may Support Life.” Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Feb 03 2011. ProQuest. Web. 7 Mar. 2014.