Space Race
While the Soviets sought to unify all of their efforts intoa centralised system, the Americans preferred having several different arms – the army, navy, private agencies, etc – trying their own experiments with a very light central cohesion. The result, naturally, was that the Soviets took a huge lead and managed to beat the Americans in launching the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, in 1957.
The effect of Sputnik’s launch on the American public’s minds was thatof alarm and panic. Suddenly, it felt like they were behind the Soviets and the communist ideology was winning. The need for a centralised agency to take charge of the country’s space efforts.A turning point came in 1958 when US President Eisenhower asked his The Space Race 15 science advisor, James R. Killian, to convene the President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) to come up with a plan for a new space flight organization. Quietly considering the creation of a new civil space agency for several months, PSAC worked with staff members from Congress and quickly came forward with a proposal that placed all non-military efforts relative to space exploration under a strengthened and renamed National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which had been around since 1915. Eisenhower accepted the PSAC’s recommendations and sponsored legislation to expand the NACA into an agency charged with the broad mission to “plan, direct, and conduct aeronautical and space activities”; to involve the nation’s scientific community in these activities; and to widely disseminate
information about these activities. An administrator appointed by the president was to head the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). During the summer of 1958 Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act and the president signed it into law on 29 July 1958.
The new organisation, NASA, started functioning on October 1, 1958, less than a year after the launch of Sputnik 1. Headed by Dr. T. Keith Glennan, its first task was the development of a human space exploration program.
Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space
Both the newly-formed NASA and the Soviets had announced their intension of putting a man into space. And with the Soviets having already won the race to send the first artificial satellite intonmspace, they weren’t about to give up their lead.
The push on the Vostok programme resulted in the successful mission of sending dogs, rats and mice aboard the Sputnik 5 into Earth’s orbit and bring them back to earth safely. The green signal was given shortly after that to send a man into space. The Russians had already started preparing candidates for the first flight. To define this new breed of pilots, they came up with the term ‘cosmonauts’– or sailors of the universe. Since the mission was a furthering of the abilities that would be needed of a trained pilot, the Soviets tappedntheir own Air Force for candidates. A severe test of sets brought the shortlist down to six: Yuri Gagarin, Anatoli Kartashov, Andrian Nikolayev, Pavel Popovich, Gherman Titov and Valentin Varlamov. They would come to be known as the Vanguard Six. This group went extensive training in a spacecraft simulator while Sergei Korolev – the lead rocket scientist in the Soviet programme – and his team worked on the Vostok rocket. They came 16 The Space Race know of the news that NASA was getting ready for its first sub-orbital flight in 1961, so they decided to aim higher (literally) and be the first to send a man into Earth’s orbit.
After the success of Sputnik 5, they conducted one last test of the Vostok 3KA rocket in which they sent a dummy, along with a dog, into orbit on an unmanned spacecraft that would be identical to the one they use for sending their first cosmonaut into space. Launched on March 9, 1961, the mission was a success as the rocket left the earth, entered orbit, and left that to re-enter Earth, following which the mannequin was safely ejected and the dog recovered in a detached descent module.
Finally, every go-ahead was given and the Soviets were ready to launch their first man into space. Colonel Yuri Gagarin was chosen for this prestigious mission – which, surprisingly, would also be his last space mission. On April 12, 1961, the era of human spaceflight began. The rocket lifted off– Gagarin yelling over the ride, “Let’s ride!” – and the cosmonaut became the first human to orbit the Earth in his Vostok I spacecraft. This was the first spacecraft to carry a human into space, occurring 25 days prior to the first US suborbital flight. Because of concerns of adverse reactions to due to experiencing weightlessness, the manual controls on the spacecraft were locked prior to launch and the entire flight was under the control of ground personnel. Gagarin, however, had the option of being able to manually control the flight if deemed absolutely necessary. The spacecraft consisted of a nearly spherical cabin covered withmablative material. There were three small portholes and external radio antennas. Radios, a life support system, instrumentation, and an ejection
seat were contained in the manned cabin. This cabin was attached to a service module that carried
Finally, every go-ahead was given and the Soviets were ready to launch their first man into space. Colonel Yuri Gagarin was chosen for this prestigious mission – which, surprisingly, would also be his last space mission. On April 12, 1961, the era of human spaceflight began. The rocket lifted off– Gagarin yelling over the ride, “Let’s ride!” – and the cosmonaut became the first human to orbit the Earth in his Vostok I spacecraft. This was the first spacecraft to carry a human into space, occurring 25 days prior to the first US suborbital flight. Because of concerns of adverse reactions to due to experiencing weightlessness, the manual controls on the spacecraft were locked prior to launch and the entire flight was under the control of ground personnel. Gagarin, however, had the option of being able to manually control the flight if deemed absolutely necessary. The spacecraft consisted of a nearly spherical cabin covered withmablative material. There were three small portholes and external radio antennas. Radios, a life support system, instrumentation, and an ejection
seat were contained in the manned cabin. This cabin was attached to a service module that carried
chemical batteries, orientation rockets, the main retro system, and added support equipment for the total system. This module was separated from the manned cabin on re-entry. After one orbit, the spacecraft A model of the Vostok I spacecraft The Space Race 17 re-entered the atmosphere and landed in Kazakhstan, about 1 hour and 48 minutes after launch. The Vostok spacecraft was designed to eject the cosmonaut at approximately 7 km and allow him to return to earth by parachute. Although initial reports made it unclear whether Gargarin landed in this manner or returned in the spacecraft, subsequent reports confirmed that he did indeed eject from the capsule. Radio communications with earth were continuous during the flight, and television transmissions were also made from space.
Gagarin instantly became an international hero and is often referred to as the ‘Columbus of the Cosmos’. For the next few years, he became the posterboy for Russia’s seeming dominance over the US and he was paraded around the globe. When Gagarin finally returned to Russia and started training for a second mission, an air crash ended his life on March 27, 1968. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s historic spaceflight, filmmaker Christopher Riley and the European Space Agency released a short film in 2011 titled First Orbit, which replicates what Gagarin must have seen in his first flight and complements it with archival audio footage.
It can be seen online at www.firstflight.org. Gagarin was soon followed into space by his colleague Gherman Titov, who went aboard the Vostok II on August 6, 1961, for the first full-day manned mission in space. Over the next few years, the Soviets would launch four more manned missions into space, including Valentina Tereshkova, who would become the first woman in space on June 19, 1963.
Gagarin instantly became an international hero and is often referred to as the ‘Columbus of the Cosmos’. For the next few years, he became the posterboy for Russia’s seeming dominance over the US and he was paraded around the globe. When Gagarin finally returned to Russia and started training for a second mission, an air crash ended his life on March 27, 1968. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s historic spaceflight, filmmaker Christopher Riley and the European Space Agency released a short film in 2011 titled First Orbit, which replicates what Gagarin must have seen in his first flight and complements it with archival audio footage.
It can be seen online at www.firstflight.org. Gagarin was soon followed into space by his colleague Gherman Titov, who went aboard the Vostok II on August 6, 1961, for the first full-day manned mission in space. Over the next few years, the Soviets would launch four more manned missions into space, including Valentina Tereshkova, who would become the first woman in space on June 19, 1963.
project Mercury
Let’s rewind the clock a little. In 1958, two months after NASA was formed, its administrator Dr. T. Keith Glennan announced
that the organisation would be looking to send a man into space as well. Obviously, the Soviets won this fight, but to understand the future missions NASA undertook, it’s important to know about this programme, which would be called ‘Project Mercury’. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin preparing to become the first man in space 18 The Space Race Mercury had three main objectives: Place a manned spacecraft in orbital flight around the earth; Investigate man’s performance capabilities and his ability to function in the environment of space; Recover the man and the spacecraft safely.
The first US spacecraft was a cone-shaped one-man capsule with a cylinder mounted on top. Two meters long, 1.9 meters in diameter, a 5.8 meter escape tower was fastened to the cylinder of the capsule. The blunt end was covered with an ablative heat shield to protect it against the 3000 degree heat of entry into the atmosphere. The capsule had very little room inside for the one person it held. In fact, the astronaut had to stay in his seat throughout the journey.
The Mercury program used two launch vehicles: A Redstone for the suborbital and an Atlas
for the four orbital flights. Prior to the manned flights, unmanned tests of the booster and the capsule
were made, carrying a chimpanzee.
The first US spacecraft was a cone-shaped one-man capsule with a cylinder mounted on top. Two meters long, 1.9 meters in diameter, a 5.8 meter escape tower was fastened to the cylinder of the capsule. The blunt end was covered with an ablative heat shield to protect it against the 3000 degree heat of entry into the atmosphere. The capsule had very little room inside for the one person it held. In fact, the astronaut had to stay in his seat throughout the journey.
The Mercury program used two launch vehicles: A Redstone for the suborbital and an Atlas
for the four orbital flights. Prior to the manned flights, unmanned tests of the booster and the capsule
were made, carrying a chimpanzee.
The Mercury spacecraft was the first of its kind to have a failsafe mechanism to ensure
that the pilot would not be harmed in case of a malfunction in the launch process. The Launch Escape System (LES) was a contraption of booster rockets attached to the spacecraft that would fire in case the launch rocket malfunctioned. The spacecraft would thus be boosted clear of the explosion
and, after deploying a parachute, land safely.Through a rigorous selection programme, the Mercury project narrowed down seven potential pilots from the US Air Force for the spacecraft. Known popularly as the Mercury 7, they were Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton. While the Soviets preferred the term ‘cosmonaut’, they dubbed their men ‘astronauts’. The term was a cross between ‘aeronauts’, as ballooning pioneers were called, and ‘Argonauts’, the legendary Greeks in search A rendering of the Mercury spacecraft over the Sahara desert Image Credit: Pyramid Design The Space Race 19 of the Golden Fleece. These new explorers were being prepared to sail into the new, uncharted vastness of space. Each astronaut named his capsule and Shepard included a 7 in the name because it was the seventh one made. The other astronauts, to show their support for each other, also added a 7 in their names. Less than a month after Yuri Gagarin’s historic spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, at 9:34 am, the Freedom 7 blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida to take Alan Shepard into Space – became the first American and the second person ever to do so. Unlike Gagarin, though, Shepard’s spacecraft wasn’t completely automatic. He would thus become the first person in history to pilot a spaceship and also the first to land back on Earth in it, since Gagarin had parachuted out of it. It should be noted, however, that while Gagarin managed to get to the Earth’s orbit, Shepard’s flight was only suborbital. Soon after this, Grissom also went on a sub-orbital flight aboard the Liberty Bell 7. On February 20, 1962, an Atlas rocket successfully carried John Glenn and the hopes of an entire nation into orbit aboard Friendship 7, a flight that ushered in a new era of space travel for America. Glenn was soon followed
into orbit by colleagues Carpenter, Schirra and Cooper. Among the original Mercury 7 astronauts, only Deke Slayton didn’t make a flight due to medical reasons, but he did go on to fly in Space as part of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project crew.
These manned space flights were accomplished with complete pilot safety and without change to the basic Mercury concepts. It was shown that man can function ably as a pilot-engineer-experimenter without undesirable reactions or deteriorations of normal body functions for periods up to 34 hours of weightless flight. The Mercury experience also helped NASA develop techniques and philosophies to insure well-trained flight and ground crews and correctly prepared space vehicles.
that the pilot would not be harmed in case of a malfunction in the launch process. The Launch Escape System (LES) was a contraption of booster rockets attached to the spacecraft that would fire in case the launch rocket malfunctioned. The spacecraft would thus be boosted clear of the explosion
and, after deploying a parachute, land safely.Through a rigorous selection programme, the Mercury project narrowed down seven potential pilots from the US Air Force for the spacecraft. Known popularly as the Mercury 7, they were Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton. While the Soviets preferred the term ‘cosmonaut’, they dubbed their men ‘astronauts’. The term was a cross between ‘aeronauts’, as ballooning pioneers were called, and ‘Argonauts’, the legendary Greeks in search A rendering of the Mercury spacecraft over the Sahara desert Image Credit: Pyramid Design The Space Race 19 of the Golden Fleece. These new explorers were being prepared to sail into the new, uncharted vastness of space. Each astronaut named his capsule and Shepard included a 7 in the name because it was the seventh one made. The other astronauts, to show their support for each other, also added a 7 in their names. Less than a month after Yuri Gagarin’s historic spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, at 9:34 am, the Freedom 7 blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida to take Alan Shepard into Space – became the first American and the second person ever to do so. Unlike Gagarin, though, Shepard’s spacecraft wasn’t completely automatic. He would thus become the first person in history to pilot a spaceship and also the first to land back on Earth in it, since Gagarin had parachuted out of it. It should be noted, however, that while Gagarin managed to get to the Earth’s orbit, Shepard’s flight was only suborbital. Soon after this, Grissom also went on a sub-orbital flight aboard the Liberty Bell 7. On February 20, 1962, an Atlas rocket successfully carried John Glenn and the hopes of an entire nation into orbit aboard Friendship 7, a flight that ushered in a new era of space travel for America. Glenn was soon followed
into orbit by colleagues Carpenter, Schirra and Cooper. Among the original Mercury 7 astronauts, only Deke Slayton didn’t make a flight due to medical reasons, but he did go on to fly in Space as part of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project crew.
These manned space flights were accomplished with complete pilot safety and without change to the basic Mercury concepts. It was shown that man can function ably as a pilot-engineer-experimenter without undesirable reactions or deteriorations of normal body functions for periods up to 34 hours of weightless flight. The Mercury experience also helped NASA develop techniques and philosophies to insure well-trained flight and ground crews and correctly prepared space vehicles.
Going to the moon
On paper, Project Mercury was a success in proving America’s ability to safely take man into space and bring him back. It also ticked several other boxes in the technological spectrum. But politically and publicly, Mercury failed to make a dent.
The Soviets had won in every aspect of space missions by being first in making an ICBM, launching Sputnik into orbit and then sending Gagarin into the great beyond before the Americans could even send their astronaut 20 The Space Race into sub-orbit. The year was 1961 and US President John F. Kennedy was faced with a dilemma. He realised the importance of the Space Race given the Cold War they were engaged in, and the constant beating at the hands of the Soviets was leaving the American public disillusioned and alarmed. Kennedy needed a big win and so he called upon his Vice President, Lyndon Johnson, to sit down with the NASA officials and figure out a project which they could accomplish before the Soviet Union.
After several meetings, Johnson and NASA administrator James Webb noted that a mission to land a man on the moon was far enough into the future that they could achieve it first. On May 25, 1961, just three short weeks after Alan Shepard’s legendary flight, President Kennedy went to Congress for an address on “Urgent National Needs.” Kennedy told Congress and the nation that “space is open to us now”, and said that space exploration may hold the key to our future here on Earth. Backing the pre-existing Apollo programme and making it into NASA’s prime concern, he laid forth an audacious challenge: “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 Earth.”
After several meetings, Johnson and NASA administrator James Webb noted that a mission to land a man on the moon was far enough into the future that they could achieve it first. On May 25, 1961, just three short weeks after Alan Shepard’s legendary flight, President Kennedy went to Congress for an address on “Urgent National Needs.” Kennedy told Congress and the nation that “space is open to us now”, and said that space exploration may hold the key to our future here on Earth. Backing the pre-existing Apollo programme and making it into NASA’s prime concern, he laid forth an audacious challenge: “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 Earth.”
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