NASA 60th: How It All Began

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The United States wanted to make clear that our space program was a civil effort
and scientific effort.
President Eisenhower was concerned that our
efforts in space exploration and research would be consolidated and made more effective.
NACA is to become part of a new agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
You can be justly proud of the fact that your past achievements
have made NACA the choice of all governmental agencies out of which to build the new agency.
The NACA starts taking a look at particularly high speed
flight as part of Aeronautics but that quickly blends into Space Research.
They start using rockets to do high-speed research on airplanes and eventually on re-entry vehicles.
The NACA is a repository of aerospace scientific skill
and aerospace geekdom as well I suppose to some extent.
They were people very interested in flight and quite
and of course naturally space as well but it sort of
sets them up to become the core of NASA.
So the transition between the two
organizations was like seamless in that sense.
The technicians were superb the
people that you had mentoring you were just superb. So in the early days,
the attitude was still let's get the job done.
NASA must be like NACA
in the qualities of strength and character that make an organization great.
Today a new moon is in the sky,
a 23 inch metal sphere placed in orbit by a Russian rocket.
Political pressure builds rapidly in the United States.
There's hearings in Congress.
There's calls for the United States to do something dramatic.
A lot of pressure gets put on Vanguard.
The first American attempt
with a Vanguard rocket was a failure.
We were having mostly explosions with our rockets.
It seemed like 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, blow up more than
liftoff back in those days.
We've been assigned the mission and launching a
scientific earth center.
I promised the Secretary of the Army
that we would be ready in 90 days or less.
The news media have found out about
the fact that we're gonna launch a satellite
and I heard there was something like 200 news media came in.
At one time, they measured
the jet stream wind at 227 miles an hour
over the Cape.
Well, of course, it would have driven the rocket off course,
Range Safety would have blown it up immediately.
The next day my calculation showed there was
a wave in the jet stream.
By evening there would be a
window of opportunity. I convinced him that probably would do it.
And so he said okay, we'll listen to the kid go a fuel the rocket.
And things went well.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
A project like firing a satellite
into orbit is only possible if
there is splendid teamwork all the way through.
There were scientists all around
the world that were dedicated to trying to understand the planet better
and this is what Explorer 1 was really designed for.
One of the things that I find very noble about NASA
and I think it's really useful to remember is
it started with science.
We wanted to observe the Earth from space
and we wanted to see what the environment
right up above the earth was like
and this is the incredible thing
the first time we venture up there
we discover something completely unexpected,
the Van Allen radiation belts.
And there were these radiation belts of particles
from the Sun trapped in our magnetic field.
We hadn't even guessed that they were there yet.
The purpose of the work is a scientific one and it's very nearly
pure scientific experimentation.
The more we understand about the nature of
our astronomical environment
and about our own earth is quite likely the more
we'll be able to do about it and do with it.
We have one of the most challenging assignments
that has ever been given to modern man
expansion of human knowledge about space
development and operation of vehicles
capable of carrying instruments and man through space
long-range studies of the benefits of using
aeronautical and space activities for peaceful and scientific purposes
preservation of the role of the United States
as a leader in aeronautical and space science and technology.
We have a mighty big job to do.

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NASA 60th: How It All Began

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