Engineering And Science
February 1960, Volume XXIII, No. 5
The Importance of Space
by L. A. DuBridge
The Space Age is well over two years old now. But, like a two-year-old baby, it hasn't really begun to make much sense as yet. Fond relatives exclaim that it is the greatest baby ever born. But sharp critics argue that it is not worth so much attention—and that scientists would do well to stay home from their space venture: and try to cure cancer and other diseases. Still other people, noting that the American space baby is neither as old nor as hefty as the Russian infant, are impatient that in spite of all the vitamins and minerals we are feeding the child it persists in remaining both smaller and younger than the Russian prodigy.
It is undeniably true that the Russians have exploited their infant prodigy to the fullest. They are such proud and boastful parents that they have succeeded in giving all the rest of the world a severe inferiority complex. And there appear to be those who believe—or who fear that everyone else believes—that the remarkable vigor of the Russian space baby proves that its parents are the greatest people in the world and have now surpassed all the rest of the world in all matters scientific, military,technological, educational, and possibly even political.
In short—what a lot of commotion the arrival of the Space Age has caused!
Now there is good reason for excitement, of course. Since the beginning of history, man has dreamed of flying to the stars—always fearing, however, that the dream was an impossible one. Actually, flying to the stars still is impossible for us; but journeying to the moon and the planets is not. Indeed, manmade packages have already flown to the moon and beyond. Venus and Mars are perfectly feasible targets for "near-miss" trajectories in the near future. It is now a fact that men have learned to launch sizable vehicles with sufficient speed and accuracy to attain It is such a magnificent human achievement that it is distressing to see how so many small-minded men have flown into a jealous rage over the fact that the Russians accomplished the feat a few weeks before the Americans did. After 100,000 years or so of human history, why was that last 16 weeks so important? Future historians, I am sure, will have a hard time explaining why that 16 weeks had such an extraordinary effect on world politics.
One reason that the Russian successes have been so exasperating to Americans is that we know we could have been first if we had wanted to. The scientific knowledge and the technical know-how in the United States and Russia were essentially equivalent. No great new secrets of nature were discovered or great new inventions made by the Russians. Their earlier successes were the result of a technological accident combined with a political decision.
The technological accident was that the United States Atomic Energy Commission was able to develop an extremely powerful thermonuclear warhead of rather small weight. To carry this warhead to any conceivable enemy target requires a rocket whose thrust is about 150,000–200,000 pounds. So, such a rocket was developed—now known as the Atlas. And, in fact, to be sure of success, a second development of a somewhat different model, but with similar performance, was undertaken—the Titan. These rockets, plus the associated guidance and launching equipment, are now becoming operational—and have had spectacular success in meeting the military requirements originally set forth.
