The Politics of Space Exploration
The simple commanding beauty of the moments before lift-off—thrusters ignited as dazzling shades of fire and smoke shatter the dreams of the sleeping rocket, contrasted by a flawlessly infinite blue sky and heightened by an almost surreal apprehension—depict the dramatic perfection that is space exploration. This image frozen in time, however captivating and serene, often overshadows the hidden agendas and secret dealings that go on behind the scenes. In reality, the probing of space has just as much to do with politics as with mankind’s actual zest for knowledge. From promoting national status through international competition, to dealing with internal and organizational issues, to improving public relations, the policy of space exploration is modeled after the politics of the day.
First restricted to military purposes, space travel was an unattainable aspiration of dreamers. During World War II, while Wernher Von Braun was designing V-2 rockets for the Germans, he privately yearned to transform Jules Verne’s fiction of space travel into fact. Outer space, however, did not fit into the Führer’s master plans; Hitler’s singular desire was to produce an “annihilating effect” through the V-2's capability for mass destruction. Even after the war, when Von Braun was working for the Americans, his plans to put a human into space were thwarted—again he was required to design rockets for the military and was forced to place interplanetary travel on a back burner.
Another visionary whose galactic ambitions were overshadowed by the practicality of the day was the Russian Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. He developed the Soviet Union’s first liquid-fuel rocket, the .09, but like Von Braun was...
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...face the fact that politics is an enormous part of space past, present, and future.
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There are many people who see space as the last and greatest frontier for humankind. There are many groups who are leading the way and NASA is one of them. But should our tax dollars be invested in such an idea? No, according to British history professor Jerry DeGroot. His thesis, in the article “is that United States should, a sensually, defund NASA. From what I can tell, he uses mainly pathos to try to sway his argument, leaving very little appeals to ethos and practically none to logos. I’m going to explore these three appeals, as well as many of the fallacies he uses within the piece.
The Soviet’s were responsible for putting man on the moon, rovers on Mars, and launching the Hubble Space Telescope. Indeed, it was the United States’ foes that drove the U.S. to accomplish perhaps the greatest feats of the twentieth century. Following the defeat of Germany and Japan in World War II, tensions between former allies, the United States and the Soviet Union, began to grow. In the following decades, the two superpowers would duke it out in competitions and tremendous shows of nationalism. They formed unmatchable rivalries in politics, economics, sciences, and sports. These rivalries would become clear when two countries competed in the space race, a competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union concerning achievements in the field of space exploration. The Soviet’s took the early lead as they put the first satellite, Sputnik 1, into space. The launch of Sputnik 1 established a sense of fear into the American Public, resulting in the creation of NASA in the late 1950’s which opened the door for space exploration today and for future generations.
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Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. 1930. Edited by Noel Polk. New York: Vintage, 1985. Print.
This blow to national pride along with the fear that the Soviets could potentially launch ICBMs from space led to “Rocket fever”. The sudden wave of nationalism and the desire to build a space program worthier to that of the Soviet Union led to the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under President Eisenhower, the investment of billions of dollars in missile development, and the expansion of the National Academy of Science’s charter.... ... middle of paper ... ...
After World War II both the United States and the Soviet Union realized how important rocket research would be to the military. So they each hired the top rocket scientists from Germany to help with their research. After they hired them both sides were making a lot of progress. The Space Race began in 1955 when the Americans announced that they would start launching satellites into orbit. The Soviets took the US announcement as a challenge and established a group whose goal was to beat the US in putting a satellite into orbit. Even though the United States started the competition the Soviets still won because they launched the first successful satellite into orbit, put a dog into outer space and also put the first man into outer space. Some might say that the United States won because they put the first man on the moon, which was a huge feat made by the Americans. So for winning many missions against the U.S. the Soviets won the Space Race.
In the end, after Addie is buried, her bereaved husband appears with the second Mrs. Bundren. She brings with her a gramophone as dowry, and the Bundren family is once again reunited, with the exception of Darl, who has been sent to the state hospital.Faulkner exposed the Bundren family to two of the greatest disasters known to man: Flood and Fire. But As I Lay Dying is not merely a story of disasters or of a mission nobly achieved in spite of serious difficulties. Nor is it simply a comedy of horrors.
Levy, Rachel, et al., eds. “Great Debate: Human Trafficking.” The Morningside Post. Columbia, 4 Dec. 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. .
The National Space Policy has undergone changes throughout its new creation on August 31, 2006, under both the Obama administration and the Bush administration. The act originally was established for overarching national policies that governed the conduct of U.S space activities. President Dwight Eisenhower said “More than by any other imaginative concept, the mind of man is aroused by the thought of exploring the mysteries of outer space. Through such exploration, man hopes to broaden his horizons, add to his knowledge, improve his way of living on Earth.” With that statement, is where our time in space begins.
Humans have dreamed of leaving the earth and traveling space for many years, and up to this day they have taken many steps in the right direction. Yet, with every new frontier they approach, new problems loom over the horizon. All problems involved with space exploration may not directly involve space itself. Many of those problems surface right here on Earth. Some of the easier issues have been resolved, such as escaping the forces of gravity to reach outer space. More of these problems are far more arduous and the solutions need more time to be worked out properly. In “The Coming Schism” by James E. and Alcestis R. Oberg, humans have already begun colonizing space, yet there are still new problems arising. Major problems such as financing, communication and culture conflicts are important in the journey to space, because they all have the potential to disrupt progress.
NASA’s research and innovation looked promising, but it came at a cost. Money, resources, and spacecraft accidents, most famously Apollo 13 all hindered NASA’s research. In the 21st century, the debate over funding for NASA is at its peak since the birth of the organization in 1958, especially when there are numerous problems throughout the world. Is the money spent on space exploration worth the advantages and advances it contributes to society? When considering this topic, one might ask themselves, why explore space?
People have been venturing out into the universe for many years now. In addition to satellites, both women and men astronauts have traveled into space to collect data about the universe. The first human being, the first animal, and the first spacecraft in orbit, were all achievements of the Soviet Union.
Hewson, Marc. "'My Children Were Of Me Alone': Maternal Influence In Faulkner's As I Lay
As such, this essay will argue that space exploration is a necessity of our kind and that NASA should be progressively more financed. To begin with, space research has helped bring several developments to modern science, affecting the quality of our everyday lives. With issues like climate change, and population overgrowth, our species faces the risks of major extinction (4). Climate change has been a man-made problem in recent years that threatens our planet. It will take huge mitigations from current and future societies to even come close to reversing climate change.
An Astronomy topic that has always been intriguing is space travel. The ability to rocket into space, look down on Earth, and “…explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before” (IMDB) is an adventure that people dream of experiencing. On July 20, 1969, an estimated six million people watched Neil Armstrong become the first man to walk on the Moon (Nixon Library). Presently, people are paying Virgin Galactic $250,000 to reserve a seat on a spaceship that is expected to tour suborbital space in the near future (Virgin Galactic). Although space travel continues to be of interest, there is also some controversy. Controversies include: the allocation of government resources for space exploration, government verses commercial spacecrafts, and the need to colonize other planets for the survival of humanity. The intrigue and the controversy of space travel are the reasons for this Astronomy conversation.