67 Years Ago, The US Started To Win The Space Race

I want to take you back to 67 years ago. It is early 1958. I want to transfer you to Titusville, Florida, and Cape Canaveral. It is a dark and cold winter night. Dr. Werner von Braun, a group of rocket engineers?originally from Germany, some senior U.S. Army officers, and officials from a government agent named NACA are in a small block house.

? ? A safe distance from them is a launch pad. A U.S. Army medium-range ballistic missile called the Jupiter-C sits on the pad. Most people familiar with the missile would describe it as "the grandson" of the German V-2 rocket. Atop the rocket is an ingenious, tiny shaft. Right below it is a ring of solid field rockets. This tiny spacecraft is called Explorer I. It was developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. When the Jupiter-C lifts off and expends all its fuel, it will fall away. The small solid field rockets will ignite. The shaft above these rocket motors will ignite. They will propel the shaft to 17,500 miles per hour and put it into orbit around the Earth.

? ? It is truly a dark night for the men in the blockhouse. On October 4, 1957, The Soviet Union put a round globe named Sputnik I into orbit around the earth. Another Soviet satellite went into orbit soon afterward. The US Navy had attempted two times to launch a spherical satellite into orbit using a Vanguard rocket. Both attempts failed.

? ?It was what we would call "a do-or-die moment." There had not been sufficient time to test the rocket and its payload. President?Eisenhower, his cabinet, and people all over the US and the world were watching. Everyone in the tiny blockhouse was tense. The final countdown finished. The Jupiter-C's rocket motor ignited. It lifted off. It cleared the launch pad and began its race to the heavens. It performed flawlessly. When its fuel was expended, it separated from the small cluster?of solid fuel rockets and fell away. The solid fuel rockets ignited. The small shaft raced toward LEO (low Earth orbit). The proper velocity was attained to put the shaft into orbit. It began to transmit radio signals heard around the world. The United States was back in "the space race."

? ? There is an ironic footnote to this grand moment in history. Explorer I was ready to launch in 1956, long before Sputnik I was ready. President Eisenhower refused to approve the launch. He did not want a military project to launch the first US satellite.