Since the beginning of time, man has been overcome with a desire to reach the heavens.
“And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven” - Genesis 11:4
On September 19, 1783, a scientist by the name of Pilatre De Rozier, along with the Marquis d’Arlandes lauched ‘Aerostat Revellion’, the first hot air balloon. On board were three ‘passengers’– a rooster, a duck and a ram. The balloon remained afloat for approximately 15 minutes, then fell back to earth.
Two months later, on November 21st, the first manned balloon flight was attempted. Two French brothers, Etienne & Joseph Montgolfier, were the passengers. The balloon was launched from the center of Paris, remained aloft for 20 minutes and birthed the joy of hot air ballooning.
On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers made the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight.
Beginning in 1959, the United States started its exploration of the last frontier with the goal to put man in orbit around the Earth; however, it would not be the first country to put a man into space. On April 12, 1961, the Russians sent Vostok 1 into the wild blue yonder with Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on board. The US played catch-up the following month.
The morning of May 5, 1961 started early for Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. At the age of 37, he was about to go where no American had gone before. Beginning his day with a breakfast of two poached eggs and steak, he looked around at the silhouettes of giant towers and cranes, then into the star filled sky. Fine weather had been predicted by the local meteorologists. Not long afterwards he was given a final check over by the medics on base, then put on his rubberized nylon space suit and readied himself to become the first American sent into space. Freedom 7 awaited his arrival on the launch pad. As he prepared to board the capsule, he chuckled, “They really wanted to send a dog, but they thought that would be too cruel.” 9:34 EST, the words ‘Lift off!” were heard and Shepard was on his way.
President John F. Kennedy addressed a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961 with a dramatic and ambitious goal. He stated “. . . First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” Kennedy did not live to see his challenge met, but met it was – on July 20, 1969. On that day, Apollo 11’s lunar module Eagle landed on the moon’s surface with Astronauts Neil Armstrong & Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, Jr. aboard while Michael Collins continued to orbit in the command module. Upon touchdown, Armstrong announced “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Before long, Armstrong emerged as the first man to set foot on the solid facade below. After resting on the moon’s surface for 21 hours 31 minutes, Eagle took off to rejoin the command module, loaded with 47.5 pounds of lunar rocks.
Following the Apollo missions, NASA moved on to the Space Shuttle program, beginning on April 12, 1981 with Columbia and continuing on with Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour. These mighty crafts would serve NASA through 30 years of missions as they carried a mixture of astronauts from the United States and other countries into orbit to repair satellites, conduct research and build the International Space Station.
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Many years ago, world renown physicist, Sir Isaac Newton, stated there were three laws of motion, one of which is, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” In some respects, this law could also apply to luck – and it did so for NASA. While the vast majority of NASA’s luck leaned in the positive direction, the negative showed its ugly head a number of times as well.
Following Alan Shepard’s success as the first American in space, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth. February 20, 1962, he took off in Friendship 7. Riding in an egg-shaped orbit between 141 and 162 miles above Earth, Glenn traveled five miles every second. On his second loop, the autopilot system developed problems, resulting in the control jets starting and stopping on their own, thereby slowing the speed of the capsule. Glenn was forced to disengage the autopilot and fly the craft himself. This would include steering the craft in such a way so that when time came for reentry, it would be his responsibility to ensure the blunt end of the capsule faced downward.
No sooner had he begun to deal with this situation than Problem #2 arose. A flashing indicator light warned him a possibility existed for the heat shield to come loose. The heat shield was designed to come lose, but only AFTER doing its job. To do so ahead of time would expose Friendship 7 to the incinerating heat of reentry and thus spread Glenn’s ashes amongst the cosmos. Thankfully all turned out well. The flashing indicator light proved to be a false signal and Glenn returned safely to earth.
During the flight of Gemini 8, a hair-raising moment occurred for Astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott, plus the entire crew at NASA. This mission involved the first docking of two spacecrafts –Atlas-Agena and Gemini 8. Agena left the launch pad at 10 a.m. EST and was followed shortly by Gemini 8 at 11:41. All went well as Gemini began its rendezvous and docking with Agena, 6.5 hours into the mission. 27 minutes later, however, problems arose. The coupled crafts experienced a roll and awe motion which was not written into the script. A stuck thruster on Gemini served to complicate the problem, creating a wild, high speed gyration. Prior to reaching structural limits and blacking out, Armstrong was finally able to disengage from Agena, but this did not solve all the problems. The yaw and roll commenced again at a rate too high to control, thus forcing the astronauts to activate both rings of the reentry control system. This process consumed 75% of the capsule's available fuel. Armstrong and Scott wanted to continue the mission, which included a spacewalk for Scott, but NASA ordered the pair home with an emergency splashdown.
Thankfully these challenging missions resulted in the safe return of the astronauts involved. Others, however, would not be so fortunate.
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On Friday, January 27, 1967, the first Apollo capsule was due to launch with Astronauts Virgil Grissom (former Mercury astronaut), Edwards White and Roger Chaffee aboard. As soon as Grissom hooked up his oxygen supply in the spacecraft, a ‘sour smell’ caught his attention. A test of the situation resulted in the decision to proceed. Then a high oxygen flow triggered the master alarm. Environmental control system personnel were consulted, who chalked it up to the movement of the crew within the capsule. This situation was never fully understood. Third time was not very charming when the crew developed communication problems. First Grissom was unable to make contact with the control room, so adjustments were made, but this did not totally resolve the issue. The problem was found to extend to the operations and checkout building, in addition to the blockhouse at Complex 34.
The communications problem put a hold on the countdown at 5:40 p.m. At 6:31 when the count resumed, an unexplained acceleration of oxygen flow into the space suits occurred. One of the astronauts chanced positions slightly and four seconds later, a voice (thought to be Chaffee) was heard to state he smelled fire. Two seconds later, White intensely announced, "Fire in the cockpit!" Before help could arrive, flames and thick black smoke engulfed the capsule, resulting in the loss of all three astronauts.
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January 28, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off from the launch pad for its mission. 73 seconds later the mission abruptly ended when Challenger exploded, destroying the craft and killing all seven crew members. The cause was later linked to an O-ring seal on the right solid rocket booster. The disaster put the Shuttle program on hold for the next 32 months while the Rogers Commission, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, investigated the matter. Given the fact Christa McAuliffe, the first member of the Teacher in Space Project was on board; the launch garnered a huge viewing audience. As a result, over the course of the next hour, an estimated 85% of the American public was aware of the tragedy.
After it was reestablished, the Shuttle program accomplished tremendous goals for the United States, but unfortunately, tragedy would strike the program once more; this time on February 1, 2003. Unlike the Challenger mission, which ended moments after it began; Columbia had completed its mission and was headed home. During re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, however, something went wrong. Challenger disintegrated somewhere over Texas and Louisiana around 9:05 a.m. CST, at which time North Texas residents reported hearing a loud ‘Boom!’ Debris from the spacecraft littered the ground from Trophy Club to Tyler and into parts of Louisiana.
As with Challenger, Columbia’s loss was attributed to something which could be considered rather small and insignificant in some respects. During Columbia’s liftoff, a small piece of foam insulation, about the size of a small briefcase, broke off from the craft’s external tank. It then struck the leading edge of the left wing which served to damage Columbia’s thermal protection system. Engineers had suspicion of the damage at the time, but managers at NASA limited the investigations due to having the attitude little if anything could be done to resolve the issue were problems to be found.
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While weighing the positives against the negatives of American space exploration, the question arises – is it worth the cost – in respect to both dollars spent and the loss of human lives? When you take into consideration the vast number of science experiments which have been performed in space, offering results non-attainable on earth; and maintaining the Hubble telescope so the wonders of the universe may be explored in greater depth – those factors alone offer a valid reason for the cost. It could also be said a number of these flights have been responsible for helping to ensure the security of the United States; after all, the public is not privy to everything that happens aboard space flights. Questioning those who lived to tell their space stories, and those left behind by those who did not, most likely would result in a large percentage of answers being a resounding 'YES!'
The U. S. space program, for over 50 years, has exemplified American ingenuity and accomplishments when it comes to technology and plain old daring. Countless young Americans have been inspired to follow in like manner – either as astronauts, scientists or engineers – challenged to push the technology envelope as far as it will go. When these results are placed alongside the costs of the space program, they far outweigh the dollars spent.
“That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.” – Neil Armstrong
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