Society+and+space-p7

//Scott//
Society in the 1950's was very afraid of the Space Race and Sputnik. They believed that if the Soviets acquired knowledge of space technology. The society made schools do bomb drills. There drills included ducking under their desks. That was totally pointless because if a bomb even came in the general direction of the school the ducking under the desks would do nothing. Adults made bomb shelters because they thought that the Soviets would drop a hydrogen bomb on them. Some people stayed in their shelters for over two months afraid of bombs.

Immediately after the Sputnik I launch in October, the U.S. Defense Department responded to the political furor by approving funding for another U.S. satellite project. As a simultaneous alternative to Vanguard, Wernher von Braun and his Army Redstone Arsenal team began work on the Explorer project.

The Sputnik launch changed everything. As a technical achievement, Sputnik caught the world's attention and the American public off-guard. Its size was more impressive than Vanguard's intended 3.5-pound payload. In addition, the public feared that the Soviets' ability to launch satellites also translated into the capability to launch ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons from Europe to the U.S. Then the Soviets struck again; on November 3, Sputnik II was launched, carrying a much heavier payload, including a dog named Laika. The Sputnik launch also led directly to the creation of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In July 1958, Congress passed the space act which created NASA as of October 1, 1958 from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and other government agencies.

The combination of technological and scientific advances, political competition with the Soviet Union, and changes in popular opinion about space flight came together in a very specific way in the 1950s to affect public policy in favor of an aggressive space program. This found tangible expression in 1952 when CSAGI started planning for an international scientific research effort to study geophysical phenomena. It decided that 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958 would be the period of emphasis, in part because of a predicted expansion of solar activity.

In October 1954 at a meeting in Rome, Italy, the Council adopted another resolution calling for the launch of artificial satellites during the IGY to help map the Earth's surface. The Soviet Union immediately announced plans to orbit an IGY satellite, virtually assuring that the United States would respond, and this, coupled with the military satellite program, set both the agenda and the stage for most space efforts through 1958. The next year the U.S. announced Project Vanguard, its own IGY scientific satellite program.


 * Baker, David. //The Rocket//. London: New Cavendish Books, 1978.