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Space race offers us many lessons

October 4, 2007 12:35 am

ON AN October day 50 years ago, the world changed forever. The space age began as the Soviet Union successfully launched the Sputnik 1 satellite into orbit on Oct. 4, 1957.

The satellite did not make any new discoveries about the Earth or the universe, but its reverberations were felt throughout the world.

The satellite carried a radio transmitter that transmitted constant beeping tones heard by radio operators on Earth. More than anything, hearing those beeps probably served as a reminder that our Cold War foe, the Soviet Union, had beaten us in the opening chapter of the space race.

I can imagine how Americans felt when Sputnik was launched. Knowing it was orbiting the Earth every 96 minutes or so, I am sure most citizens felt some sort of fear or insecurity as it passed overhead. Was it a device meant to spy on us, or was it some sort of Soviet space weapon?

Of course, Sputnik was neither of those, but the 184-pound satellite shocked the United States into a sense of urgency as the groundwork for the space race was laid.

America's answer to the Soviet's first satellite came on Jan. 31, 1958, with the successful launch of Explorer I, a small satellite that discovered Earth's radiation zones.

As a direct result of Sputnik's launch, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was created in October 1958.

In July 1969, almost 12 years after the initial shock of Sputnik, the United States made what is arguably the greatest technological achievement of the 20th century, landing Americans on the moon and returning them safely to Earth. For once, we beat our foes at their own game, but did it really matter?

More than three years later, in December 1972, the last Americans left the lunar surface as the United States' interest in the space program waned. No human has set foot on the moon since.

Today, 50 years after Sputnik, what have we learned about exploring the universe?

For one thing, space exploration must be conducted for the right reasons. Racing to space to achieve military or political dominance may engage the public for the short term, but those reasons will not justify serious, long-term objectives.

Along with the fundamental quests to understand our origins and place in the universe, exploring space should be done for educational, scientific, and technological reasons that will benefit all humankind.

Another key reason for exploring space, recently brought to worldwide attention, is for our own survival as a species. This became dramatically obvious in July 1994 when comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into Jupiter, thus demonstrating the need for the careful identification and study of asteroids and comets that may be on a collision course with Earth.

Some of the most recent unmanned spacecraft such as the Hinode mission to the sun, the Galileo mission to Jupiter, the Cassini mission to Saturn, and the Dawn mission to the asteroid belt have been collaborative efforts between the United States and other nations.

These joint missions are clear indications that political boundaries are disappearing above the Earth's surface. Space exploration, once a singular, divisive endeavor during the cold war years, has become the catalyst for cooperation between nations for the right reasons. Fifty years after Sputnik, this is perhaps its greatest legacy.

October offers some of the best viewing of the year. The haze and humidity of summer are gone, which makes the sky much clearer.

In the early morning of Oct. 7, about an hour or so before sunrise, look for a thin crescent moon between Venus and Saturn in the eastern sky. Saturn will be positioned to the lower left of brilliant Venus. Watch these two planets change position in relation to each other throughout the week. Venus will continue to be a brilliant beacon in the morning sky throughout the month as it greets early risers.

During the evenings of Oct. 15-17, look for the moon to move past Jupiter, the unmistakably bright, white object low in the southwest sky.

Mars has been the focus of much attention lately with the Mars Exploration Rovers and the Phoenix mission. I will be talking about Mars in detail in my December column. For now, you can find it as the pumpkin-colored, bright starlike object near the moon during the late night and early morning of Oct. 30, just in time for Halloween.

During the first part of this month, you can participate in a global event to measure artificial lighting's impact on the night sky.

It's called the Great World Wide Star Count and the entire family can contribute. The event runs through Oct. 15.

On the Internet, go to www.windows.ucar.edu/citizen _science/starcount/ and print the activity guide. You will count the stars visible in the constellation Cygnus (visible nearly overhead in the Fredericksburg area) using the activity guide's Northern Hemisphere Observing Guide page.

You can report the observations you make via the Internet. The results of this experiment will be available at the end of October and should be very interesting!

David Abbou is a resident of Stafford County. He has been an amateur astronomer for more than 30 years and is a member of the Rappahannock Astronomy Club. Send questions or suggestions for future columns to david.
Email: abbou@verizon.net