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20th Anniversary of Apollo Moon Landing 7/20/89 [OA 6266] [2]
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20th Anniversary of Apollo Moon Landing 7/20/89 [OA 6266] [2]
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Records of the White House Office of Speechwriting (George H. W. Bush Administration)
Speech Backup Chronological Files
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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
S; 1999-0093-F
S
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
Series:
Speech File Backup Files
Subseries:
Chron File, 1989-1993
OA/ID Number:
13678
Folder ID Number:
13678-005
Folder Title:
20th Anniversary of Apollo Moon Landing 7/20/89 [OA 6266] [2]
Stack:
Row:
Section:
Shelf:
Position:
G
26
19
2
5
(54-7/13/4:00PM)
(Beale/Shattan)
VICE PRESIDENT'S REMARKS
GENERAL DYNAMICS
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
July 18, 1989 - 9:00 a.m.
In his Inaugural Address last January, President
Bush characterized our era as a time of new beginnings.
"There are times when the future seems thick as a fog," the
President declared. "But this is a time when the future
seems like a door you can walk right through into a room
called tomorrow." I am pleased to be here today with some
of the men and women who are opening that door to tomorrow.
And, having seen your
I feel that I
myself have gotten a brief glimpse of the future.
On behalf of President Bush and the American people, I want
to congratulate you for all you have done to advance the
frontiers of knowledge, and to make technology the
handmaiden of policy, and not its master.
In my remarks to you this morning, I thought I'd try
to describe some of the features of tomorrow's world - the
world that all of you are helping to build. I recognize
that prophecy can be a pretty hazardous business. Human
beings are so unpredictable, technological change is so
rapid, and history is filled with so many twists and turns
that it's impossible to describe tomorrow's world in any
detail. Nevertheless, I believe that certain broad trends
are discernible -- trends which make it possible to
2
foretell at least the general outlines of the next century.
Thus, it is becoming increasingly clear that
democracy -- personal freedom within a framework of
representative government -- is the wave of the future
politically. In Latin America, for example, most nations
have either recently achieved democracy or are moving
clearly in that direction, while in Asia, old traditions of
authoritarian rule are fading from the scene. Even the
communist world is in ferment. At the same time, free
markets and private initiative are the new guideposts to
economic development, for the simple reason that those
principles of economic organization clearly work. For
these reasons, the 21st Century is likely to be a period of
unprecedented liberty and opportunity, a period when -- for
the first time in recorded history -- the vast majority of
mankind will finally be free.
What will humanity do with its newly-found freedom?
It's impossible to answer this question with certainty, yet
I am convinced that once the human spirit is finally
liberated from the political and economic shackles that
have constrained it in the past, our innate desire for
knowledge and adventure, for learning and discovery, will
give birth to a new Age of Exploration -- an Age of Space
Exploration. And I believe that just as America has been
in the forefront of the struggle to expand the boundaries
3
of freedom during the 20th Century, so will be in the
forefront of the struggle to escape the boundaries of the
earth -- to explore and settle space -- during the 21st
Century.
This vision of America's future in space is one that
President Bush and I both share. The President and I are
committed to American leadership in the exploration,
understanding, economic use and eventual settlement of
space. We Americans have been pushing back frontiers
throughout our history. Today, space is America's
frontier, and America's destiny is to discover and pioneer
in space.
The Bush Administration fully intends to help
America realize this destiny by providing vibrant, forward-
looking leadership. We believe that the potential gains
from space are literally infinite. Space can inspire
current and future generations of the American people; it
can further scientific understanding by many orders of
magnitude; it can provide incentives to reinvigorate
education in this country; it can provide the basis for
whole new industries, spur the economy and add technologies
which will improve the life of mankind and further the
competitiveness of American industry. In sum, space is a
high-yield investment -- a very high yield investment -- in
our nation's future.
4
For these reasons, the Bush Administration is moving
forward to put the pieces in place for another great leap
forward in space. If 1969 -- the year America landed on
the moon -- can be compared to 1492 -- the year Columbus
discovered the New World -- then the time is now at hand
for Americans to begin preparing for 1620 - the year the
Pilgrims landed on the shores of Plymouth Bay. We, too,
must begin to think about the voyage of a new Mayflower --
about expanding the human presence beyond earth orbit into
the Solar System -- as a long-term goal.
The National Space Council, which I chair, was
established on April 20 to provide a high-level
Administration focus on space. With many of the
President's top advisors participating, the Council will
provide clarity, coherence and continuity to our space
efforts.
In the brief period since its establishment, the
Space Council has already made its mark. It has provided
clear guidance and set our course on the Nation's civil
earth remote sensing program. As a result, the LANDSAT
program will make a long term contribution to global change
research and form the basis for the "Mission to Planet
Earth" program -- a coordinated long-term effort to study
and understand global change and the processes that
contribute to environmental balance.
5
The Space Council has also provided recommendations
on the National Aerospace Plane Program -- or NASP -- which
will result in a strong, forward-looking research effort to
support many needs in the early 21st Century. NASP
research will increase U.S. industrial competitiveness,
contribute to a positive balance of trade and provide
technologies with wideranging applications to benefit
Americans. In the long term, NASP will form the basis for
future aerospace transportation systems, just as the X-15
research jet allowed development of both the Space Shuttle
and high speed military aircraft.
Finally, the Space Council has revised, enhanced and
revalidated our National Space Policy. The broad goals of
our space policy are easily stated:
We believe space leadership is critically
important for achieving economic, scientific,
technical, national security and foreign policy
goals.
We believe in the importance of exploring and
using outer space for the benefit of mankind.
We believe that encouraging private sector
investment in space related activities will
benefit our economy and national wellbeing.
We believe our space programs must be geared to
improving our quality of life on earth and to
6
strengthening our national security.
And we believe in the long-term goal of
pioneering space -- pushing back the frontiers
of our Solar System.
Beyond defining the broad goals of our space policy,
the National Space Council also provides specific
guidelines on a number of policy issues. These include
assuring access to space for civil, commercial and national
security activities and achieving a permanent manned
presence in space through Space Station Freedom.
However, to be successfully implemented, these
policies require specific goals, concrete plans and real
actions. We need hard-headed strategies for turning our
dreams into reality, and we are now in the process of
defining these strategies. We must ask ourselves where we
want to be in space by the dawn of the 21st Century, and
then work out the best route to get there.
Where, then, do we want to be 11 short years from
now? In my opinion, by the year 2,000, we must:
have a vital, vibrant economic sector creating
jobs, revenue, and "better ideas" to benefit
our people;
be able to enforce a safe and stable space
environment, one in which we can ensure that
our interests are protected;
7
be on our way to pioneering our Solar System
and establishing outposts on the Moon and Mars;
provide the inspiration necessary to encourage
learning and substantially increase the number
of our children seeking scientific and
technical educations;
and reestablish our role as the dominant leader
among spacefaring nations.
We need to provide the resources to achieve these
goals. We truly believe that investing in space is
investing in the future -- our future. Nowhere else is the
excitement of scientific discovery or the inspiration and
motivation of our children more compelling then in our
national space program. Space is vital to our
international competitiveness, to our continued economic
growth, and, indeed, to our very survival as a Nation.
This is why the United States must continue to press ahead
in space.
I therefore call on the Congress to join us in this
great national undertaking. As a first step, Congress
should support full funding for Space Station Freedom, and
for the National Aerospace Plane. We are a compassionate
Nation that looks to the safety and welfare of our people
first, but we are also a people that look to the future --
the future of our posterity and the future of our planet.
8
Only by continuing to push the frontier forward, can we
hope to provide the same kinds of opportunities for
succeeding generations that our forefathers provided for
us: the opportunity to lead, to explore and to "find new
worlds. "
Two days from now -- on July 20 -- Americans will
celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Moon landing. We
will recall the heroism of Apollo 11 astronauts Neal
Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin -- two Americans who, it was
rightly said, "opened the door to infinity." And we will
remember the words of John F. Kennedy: "We choose to go to
the Moon in this decade," President Kennedy said at the
ground-breaking of the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston
back in 1961, "not because [it] is easy, but because [it]
is hard
because there is new knowledge to be gained and
new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the
progress of all mankind
And therefore, as we set sail,
we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous
and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked."
That adventure has not ended; indeed, it has just
begun. Having opened the door to the infinite reaches of
space with Apollo 11, we must not hesitate at the
threshold. We have the resources necessary to follow up on
the achievements of Apollo 11, and the courage necessary to
open a new chapter in human history. We are a Nation of
9
pioneers, and we welcome the challenge of the unknown. As
President Bush has said, "We must keep America first in
space. " And with your help, we shall.
Thank you and God Bless you.
ID# 036362
THE WHITE HOUSE
CORRESPONDENCE TRACKING WORKSHEET
FG006-03
INCOMING
DATE RECEIVED: MAY 15, 1989
NAME OF CORRESPONDENT: MR. WILLIAM CLARK
SUBJECT: APPRECIATION FOR CHIEF OF STAFF IMPLEMENTING
THE TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION IN NEW HAMPSHIRE AND
COMMENTS THE 12 ASTRONAUTS WHO LANDED ONMOON
HAVE NEVER RECEIVED A MOON ROCK
ACTION
DISPOSITION
ROUTE TO:
ACT
DATE
TYPE C COMPLETED
OFFICE/AGENCY
(STAFF NAME)
CODE YY/MM/DD
RESP
D YY/MM/DD
JOHN SUNUNU
ORG 89/05/16
C
REFERRAL NOTE:
C89/6/QCJ
/ /
/
/
REFERRAL NOTE:
/ /
/ /
REFERRAL NOTE:
/ /
/
/
REFERRAL NOTE:
/ /
/ /
REFERRAL NOTE:
COMMENTS:
ADDITIONAL CORRESPONDENTS:
M
CS MAIL
USER CODES: (A)
Bob Simon
*ACTION CODES:
*DISPOSITI
*
*
*A-APPROPRIATE ACTION
*A-ANSWERE
*C-COMMENT/RECOM
*B-NON-SPE
*D-DRAFT RESPONSE
*C-COMPLET
*F-FURNISH FACT SHEET
*S-SUSPEND
*I-INFO COPY/NO ACT NEC*
*R-DIRECT REPLY W/COPY *
*
*
*S-FOR-SIGNATURE
*
*
*
*X-INTERIM REPLY
*
*
*
REFER QUESTIONS AND ROUTING UPDATES TO CENTRAL REFERENCE
(ROOM 75,0EOB) EXT-2590
KEEP THIS WORKSHEET ATTACHED TO THE ORIGINAL INCOMING
LETTER AT ALL TIMES AND SEND COMPLETED RECORD TO RECORDS
0
P
Y
MANAGEMENT.
from ORM
036362
Optical Data Corporation
Mr. John Sununu
Chief of Staff
The White House
May 8, 1989
Washington, D. C. 20500
has seen
THE CHIEF of STAFF
Dear Mr. Sununu,
Several weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting the White House
with my colleagues from ABC News and sharing with you the work we
are doing in educational videodisc publishing. While the focus of the
meeting was on ABC News' The '88 Vote, I genuinely appreciated
the opportunity to thank you for implementing the technology
adoption in New Hampshire. At the time, the adoption was a major
boost for videodisc technology and our small, fledgling company.
Again, thanks for the vision and political commitment.
On a totally unrelated topic, I recently had dinner with Gene
Cernan, commander of Apollo 17. As a citizen and taxpayer, I was
amazed and somewhat embarrassed to learn NASA had never
awarded even token moon rocks to the 12 brave souls who
descended to the lunar surface. Obviously these rocks are public
property and national treasures. However, release of a few grams of
common lunar basalt will not diminish the Apollo science legacy.
Over the years, moon rocks have been distributed widely for research
and display. It would be admirable for the White House and Congress
to get together on this for the 20th anniversary of Apollo 11 in July.
POTUS present?
30 Technology Drive
get info
Box 4919
Warren, NJ 07060
201-668-0022
Fax 201-668-1322
Meeting w/ Kristol, Grady, McNully
7/10/89
notall well - complacency over 20 years
1969 = 1492 landed, came lone
didn't leave anything
time to move on to new phase
dedicated
VP introduces PRES on
7/20
change to VP
- to Mass?
- how fast ?
- to moon first as buse?
- report "as soon us possible"
HEADLINES: BUSH COMMITS TO MARS MISSION
BUSH ASKS FOR PLAN TO MARS
Niper RR 82
- Mars 1972
Mark albrecht - 6175
PUBLIC CEREMONY LOCATION PLAN
1
MALL
flat. R bed trucks
For Camera crews
EFFERSON
DRIVE
INVITED GUEST
PRESS
SERTING
JEFFERSON
BRIVE
SEATING (PRESS)
NASA film
crew +
SI photo:
MUSEUM SHOP
PODIUM/PA
STEPS
&
THEATER
FBAND
CEREMONY
PAPTICIPANTS
Φ
I
F- DOORS 5
- MILESTONES OF FLIGHT
)
Ford: 7-1-76
Colling suit in Columbia AP 11 all CM
epoxy w/stainless stell honeycoub
ascent stage of Eagle still arbiting the
moon ; all others stat crushed into noon
on puppose
4-13-61 The Race in Space: headling
NYT
Eagle landing was makual; armstrong
took control when computers got
overlouded + they were going to land in crater
almost out of fuel : 30 seconds
Shepand - six ion
collected 47 Domb of lunar material
"Here men from the planet Earth first set foot
upon the noon July 1969 A.D. we came
in peace for all markind.
signed by 3 ustronalts + Nixon
apollo 17 playne: " Here man coupleted his
first explorations of the moon December 1972 A.D.
May the spirit of peace in which we came
be reflected in the lives of all markind
signed by 3 astroments 4 Nifon
A statement of why
very Good, concise
we Station Freedom.
need space
Space Station Freedom
Today's Investment for the Future
Aerospace
Industries
Association
T
he first obligation of each generation is to invest in
Technology derived from Freedom's development and
the next.
operation should enable continued U.S. leadership in new
Space Station Freedom is essential to continued
products and processes. This, in turn, could lead to
U.S. leadership not only just in space but also as a world
increased employment, an improved balance of trade, and
power. The permanently-manned research laboratory,
sustained economic growth. Such developments are
with its associated observation and production facilities,
expected to hasten the opening of space as a new
will-based on past experience-lead to an improved
commercial endeavor with even greater benefits.
quality of life for the United States and all mankind as
Space-based research is expected to yield new
well. America was built on exploration: our scientific,
information about medicines and the processes of nature.
technological, and economic preeminence is built on
Such research has already accelerated drug research and
extending the frontiers of the unknown.
provided insight to improving our long-term health.
Planned studies on the effects of long-duration
weightlessness on humans might not only pave the way
for the future exploration of the universe but also could
enhance our understanding and treatment of ailments on
Earth as well.
Freedom's observation platforms are being designed to
address our most pressing needs about understanding and
protecting our fragile environment. Earth will be studied
as never before, enhancing our ability to predict, and
perhaps avoid, the destruction of hurricanes, tornadoes,
drought, and crop disease. We should also be better able
to understand and monitor the effects of man-made
changes to the environment-such as pollution and ozone
depletion-and their potential greenhouse effect.
Additionally, Space Station facilities will provide a nearly
perfect location for the study of the universe and insight
into our beginnings as well as our future.
The Space Station program has become the symbol of
our commitment to our allies, our national will to our
adversaries, and our strength to the emerging Third
World. With the growth in technology and all its holds for
the future, it is imperative that we set the pace with our
allies and friends. If we do not continue our leadership,
nations will seek partners other than the U.S. to benefit
from space and we will lose the close ties that now bind
us and will continue to bind us in the future.
Man's permanent presence is essential to obtain the
full benefits of Space Station Freedom. Robotics will play
a critical role in Freedom's development, assembly, and
operation. However, no machine has yet been devised that
can provide the integrated and compact perception, logic,
creativity, and dexterity of man.
The Space Station program is a symbol of our nation's
commitment to the peaceful use of space for the benefit of
all mankind. Now, more than ever, we must extend a hand
to the next generation-our children-to give them the
edge in technology, invention, and discovery so that they
will continue our role in world leadership and our efforts
toward an improved quality of life.
Exploration Leading to Innovation
Our existing space program has already contributed significantly to
a higher quality of life on Earth.
Technology Twice Used
For more than three decades NASA has been
Environment, Weather, and
instrumental in developing critical aeronautical and
Communications
astronautical technologies that have been the
cornerstone of many U.S. industries while providing a
Real-time TV and telephone
better quality of life for all people on Earth.
Many of the technical advancements that NASA used
Severe storm (hurricane and tornado)
to put a man on the moon and today's satellite system in
prediction and monitoring
place have found their way into our day-to-day lives.
Improved, long-range weather forecasting
NASA appropriately calls this "technology twice used."
(crop status, drought minimization)
Some of the impacts have been so subtle that many of us
do not realize their origin.
Understanding the environment, monitoring
It is impossible to catalog all of the areas where those
pollution and ozone levels
technologies have found direct application. However,
some of the more public applications are:
Detection of oil spills and acid rain
Charting of ocean currents for
Medicine and Public Safety
fishing and shipping
Lightweight fire protection clothing and
Recreation
rescue operation breathing apparatus
Composite rackets, clubs, rods, skis, and
Blood gas monitors, implantable
shock absorbent, lightweight running shoes
medicine dispensers
Space-age survival blankets
Image processing hardware/software for
Compact disk recorders
medical applications: computerized axial
tomography (CAT scan), diagnostic
Stadium roof enclosures
radiography, nuclear magnetic resonance
Velcro fasteners
imaging (MRI)
Other Technology
Single-lever controls for vehicles, giving
the physically impaired greater mobility and
Personal computers
freedom
Facsimile machines
Foam cushioning
Improved coal combustion in steam plants
Automobile braking design and structural/
for pollution reduction and increased
aerodynamic analysis
efficiency
Image processing software for skin care
History and archaeology of the Amazon,
Africa
Natural air and water pollution control
(hybrid plant/microbe systems)
Benefits can be derived from permanent human presence
aboard an orbiting national laboratory in space
Future Benefits from Space
Scientific research on Space Station Freedom will
Finally, Freedom's facilities will provide space
have three unique features currently unavailable on
observation capabilities we have not had before:
Earth:
capacity, longevity, and accessibility. There will be an
A gravity very near zero,
area large enough to accommodate observing
The continual presence of men and women to
instruments and large attachments, and its power and
conduct experiments, and
data systems exceed the capacity of most satellites. Most
An unsurpassed vantage point 250 miles above Earth
importantly, man's presence on board Space Station
for observing the stars and planet Earth.
Freedom will provide a unique ability to process
These resources open exciting new paths of research in
observations as well as learn and adapt to special
biology, physics, chemistry, and observational sciences.
opportunities that is far beyond the capability of
Once we learn how life forms react to reduced
machines.
gravity, we will have increased our knowledge of life
Because of these characteristics, Space Station
itself. In the presence of microgravity, scientists will
Freedom will
study the human cardiovascular system, sense of
balance, muscle atrophy, and bone and mineral loss. It is
1. Provide a versatile research facility for space
very likely that new information will be obtained and
it
science and applications.
is probable that modern medicine will advance because
2. Contribute to U.S. leadership in space during
of it.
the 1990s and beyond.
In the microgravity of space, the problems of
3. Enhance our national competitiveness.
convection and imperfect mixing, which plague our
4. Build stronger relationships with our friends
Earthbound experiments, essentially disappear. We can
and allies.
produce near-perfect compounds in liquid, crystalline,
5.
Enable a broad range of activities and serve
and solid forms. Compounds of purity and perfection
as part of an infrastructure critical to
never before achieved will lead to new knowledge of the
future space efforts.
physical and chemical laws governing their formation.
6.
Provide extensive precursor life sciences
This new knowledge will enhance our ability in many
study, which is mandatory for longer-term
areas of materials processing:
exploration missions.
The production of pure crystals vital to the electronic
7.
Stimulate the development of advanced
revolution;
technologies.
The creation of new, high-strength metals and
8.
Encourage science and engineering students
temperature-resistant glasses (essential to such product
at all levels from our primary and secondary
improvement as jet engines and optical communication
schools to our universities.
systems); and
9.
Stimulate the pioneering spirit in the United
The separation of biological materials important to
States.
pharmaceutical manufacturing.
The next major goal has been set, the next logical step has been
defined: To move forward with a permanent presence in space that
will carry us into tomorrow.
Time for Resolve
Space Station Freedom is moving ahead now with a
make possible the dramatic exploration contemplated for
well-defined and supported program. The National
the 21st Century. Our country has carefully prepared and
Research Council has reviewed the program, and
is developing Freedom with its best industry and
numerous executive branch and congressional studies
government teams. Delay will only result in increased
have been done over the past five years. These studies
program costs and missed opportunities.
concluded that a space station is appropriate and
It is time now to continue, unabated, our national
necessary.
support for Space Station Freedom.
The United States has a viable space program that-
with Space Station Freedom as the centerpiece-will
AIA Position
U.S. science, space, and technology programs are
and engineers, the individuals who will lead the battle
integral to the nation's continued economic, social, and
against disease, famine, and poverty toward an improved
technological leadership. Recently, our investments in
quality of life. Through their efforts our understanding
the future have slackened while those of our competitors
of ourselves, the Earth, and the universe will be
have increased; they have closed the gap and, in some
expanded.
cases, have surpassed us.
Space Station Freedom is necessary to sustain our
Continued support for science, space, and technology
leadership in space. The Aerospace Industries
programs is essential to our future. These programs not
Association supports its continued development and
only give us immediate results but also provide the
urges a level of funding consistent with the current
foundation for educating the next generation of scientists
program schedule.
Space Station Freedom
Aerospace Industries Association 1250 Eye Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005
NASA News
APOLLO II
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
Washington, D.C. 20546
AC 202-453-8400
For Release:
EXCERPTS FROM REMARKS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY:
PATHWAY TO THE PLANETS CONFERENCE
WASHINGTON, D.C.; MAY 31, 1989
RICHARD H. TRULY
NASA ACTING ADMINISTRATOR
Thank you very much, and good morning.
I am very pleased to be here today and to add my welcome on
behalf of all of us at NASA.
This is a timely and exciting conference.
It is timely because this nation has a national goal, stated
in our National Space Policy, of expanding the human presence
into the solar system. And if we are to achieve that goal given
a reasonable timetable leading early into the next century, we
must begin now to explore the options and opportunities it
presents.
And it is exciting because rarely in human history has
civilization progressed into an era such as this. We live in one
of those rare ages when technological progress has kept pace with
human imagination and vision.
Because this is so, we find ourselves with unparalled
challenges and opportunities.
Consider this
Within the span of just one human
lifetime, we moved from the sands of Kitty Hawk to the deserts of
the Moon; from state-of-the art biplanes made of cloth and wood
to the world's first reusable spacecraft, the Space Shuttle,
which orbits the Earth at Mach 25.
And what is even more incredible
we are just
beginning! The return of the Space Shuttle to flight last
September was a heroic achievement and a signal for even greater
accomplishments to come. I am proud to have been part of that
immense effort. And NASA and the nation are proud of the skill
and dedication of the thousands on the NASA/industry team who
made it possible.
- more -
- 2 -
With the start of the Magellan voyage to the planet Venus
this very month, a golden age of space science has begun and the
United States is leading the way. This year and through. 1993,
the United States plans 36 space science launches. They include
Galileo to the planet Jupiter; the Hubble Space Telescope, the
first of the Great Observatories; the Gamma Ray Observatory, the
second Great Observatory; the Mars Observer and Ulysses to the
Sun. Thirty-six launches in five years. That's the highest
launch rate for space science missions in the history of the
United States space program.
Desite occasional comments to the contrary, it is clear that
NASA has maintained a steady and substantial allocation for space
science programs through the years. I can assure you that as
Administrator, I will be personally committed to maintaining a
balanced NASA program across the board.
Just as it's impossible to predict what new knowledge will
flow from future NASA missions, we cannot even imagine what
technological advances our children and their children will
experience during their lives. We can be proud that our
generation has planted the seeds of unprecedented technological
growth and progress on Earth and in space. And I trust that
we'll continue to nurture those seeds so that future generations
will reap the benefits of our continuing exploration and quest
for knowledge.
In pursuing that quest, it's pretty clear that in the 21st
century humans will go beyond Earth and its immediate orbital
environment and strike out into the solar system. The two most
promising destinations are the Moon and Mars, the planet more
like Earth than any other known planet.
During this conference, you will be hearing much about
NASA's efforts to increase our understanding of what it will take
to pursue the options and opportunities for this inevitable human
exploration of the solar system. I expect that this work may
lead to a recommendation to the President in the early 1990s on
an appropriate exploration goal beyond Earth's boundaries.
I don't doubt that this nation will be sending men and women
on voyages of interplanetary exploration in the years ahead. I
believe we're destined to become a multi-planet species, with
both the Moon and Mars in our future. We at NASA are working to
understand the best long-term approach to take. But it's clear
that whatever path we choose, certain conditions will have to be
met for the enterprise to be successful.
First and foremost, we will need a long-term national
commitment from our leadership - the President and the
Congress - and from the American people. Twenty years ago this
coming July 20, we saw the fruits of such a commitment when Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the first manned lunar landing as
Michael Collins orbited the Moon in their capsule "Columbia."
Our goal of a lunar landing was accomplished openly within a set
timetable for all the world to see. It demonstrated to us and to
- more -
- 3 -
the world that there's no limit to what men and women can
accomplish when we work together to meet great goals and back our
determination with adequate resources.
Clearly, broad public support means that a stable funding
profile must be established for the life of the program. This
may very well be difficult to achieve, as we have seen over the
past few years, with budget battles in Congress over funding
Space Station Freedom. In this era of fiscal austerity, many in
Congress are reluctant to commit short-term resources to projects
like the space station that are necessary to achieve long-term
objectives.
As a great nation, the United States cannot afford to deny
resources to the future. Space Station Freedom is our future,
and I intend to do everything I can to ensure that we commit the
necessary resources for its completion on schedule, that is, by
the mid-1990s. This will protect our options, while, at the same
time, provide near-term benefits and experience.
For the near-term, Space Station Freedom will serve as a
materials science and life science laboratory. For the long-
term, Freedom Station is vital to achieve the goal of future
manned solar system exploration for three major reasons.
First, it is only on this permanent manned orbital research
facility that we can test the systems and technologies required
for living and working in space for extended periods.
Second, working together with our international partners on
Freedom, we will learn better how to cooperate with other nations
in managing this largest international cooperative project of the
Space Age. This knowledge will be essential in light of growing
cooperation among spacefaring nations in both space exploration
and in Mission to Planet Earth - the study of the Earth from
space.
In that connection, let me say that our international
partnerships with our friends and allies in Japan, Europe and
Canada are firm and their work on the Space Station is moving
ahead in concert with ours. Cancellation of Space Station
Freedom because of inadequate funding would send a clear signal
to other nations that the United States is not a reliable
partner, not only in space ventures, but in other areas as
well. That is not the message America wants to send out.
Finally, Freedom eventually will serve as an in-orbit depot
and assembly location for the space transfer vehicles that will
carry people and cargo to the Moon and/or to Mars. It is vital
that we protect that option.
- more -
- 4 -
There are many other foundation programs necessary to carry
out the goal of human exploration of the solar system.
Clearly, we will need to rebuild our heavy-lift launch
capability. The current fleet of Space Shuttles and expendable
launch vehicles is inadequate to launch efficiently the millions
of pounds of equipment, supplies and fuel required for an
ambitious program of human exploration. All preliminary NASA
studies indicate that a heavy-lift rocket will be needed to
deliver that material to space most efficiently and effectively.
Advanced technologies to provide the tools for living and
working in space also will be required. An internal NASA
assessment of key technologies required for future human
exploration places high priority on investments in research in
several key areas. They include propellant transfer and
refueling in space; closed life-support systems; automated
rendezvous and docking capabilities; in-orbit assembly and
construction; and advanced chemical and possibly nuclear
propulsion.
We all know it takes 8 to 12 years from the time technology
research is initiated until the results are ready for mission
application of complex space systems. That underscores how
urgent it is to invest now in technology research of the types
I've just described.
Another pressing need for a program of expanded human space
exploration is to augment life sciences research. There are many
areas to investigate regarding human health, safety and
productivity.
We need to increase our understanding of the effects of
long-term weightlessness on the body's physical and mental
processes.
It's vital to know more about whether crews can travel long
journeys in zero gravity and arrive at their destination mentally
and physically capable of performing their mission. The question
of creating artifical gravity in space needs an answer. When we
go to Mars, it is very possible that such research will have an
impact on the design of the spacecraft to get us there.
NASA's vision is to expand the frontiers of discovery,
understanding, human experience and technology to enrich our
country's future and to capture the benefits of space for future
generations.
I am fully committed to working to fulfill that vision. The
extension of the human presence into the solar system will drive
our technologies and imagination like no other engine.
- more -
- 5 -
It has been 16 1/2 years since man last walked on the
Moon. Many Americans are too young to remember when man first
set foot on another celestial body 20 years ago this July. Yet
those steps changed forever our view of ourselves and the planet
we inhabit.
Apollo at its peak consumed nearly four per cent of the
total Federal budget. And it returned seven to eight dollars in
benefits to our economy for every dollar invested in it. A
program of human exploration of the solar system, the greatest
adventure of our time, will require a significant increase in
NASA's budget, which now stands at only one per cent of our
entire national budget. But the returns will be incalculable.
At a recent White House ceremony naming the new Space
Shuttle Endeavour, President Bush spoke of the "orbiter lifting
off ... and Americans cheering its safety and success and
dreaming of the new worlds and far away heavens which form
America's destiny."
I believe in that destiny, and in the new worlds and far
away heavens it will reveal to us. By keeping alive that vision,
together we can and will build a better tomorrow for the young
Americans of today.
A hundred years from today, the NASA Administrator will
address a conference like this one
...
and talk of how we
returned to the Moon
...
and journeyed to Mars
...
and did a
thousand other things. And our world will be a better place for
having done them!
Thank you very much.
38
THE OMNI SPACE ALMANAC
rating wildly. Stafford soon took over manually
and finally regained control. A switch was in the
wrong position, Houston claimed. (For a more
detailed account of this event, read Chapter 5,
"space Disasters and close calls.")
Snoopy's descent to some 9 miles (14.5 kilo-
meters) above the moon's surface and the ren-
dezvous and docking had taken almost eight
hours. The crew rested and did more moon re-
connaissance before firing up on May 24 and
beginning their fifty-four hour return to earth,
which brought them safely down in the Pacific,
395 miles (636 kilometers) east of Pago Pago on
May 26, 1969, after a flight lasting 192.1 hours.
Up next: Apollo 11.
Apollo 11: Columbia and Eagle
A Dangerous Descent. On a Sunday afternoon
in the late 1960s, the earth changed forever. It
FACING PAGE LEFT: The historic blast-off of Apollo 11,
was Sunday, July 20, 1969. The time was
which would take men to the surface of the moon for the
4:17:43 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time. After a
first time in human history. ABOVE: The signed Apollo
dangerous descent, Neil Alden Armstrong and
11 insignia was reproduced on an invitation to the Apol-
Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. soft-landed
lo 11 prelaunch briefing at the Cocoa Beach Theatre.
FACING PAGE RIGHT: Also shown is the most unusual cus-
their moonship, the Eagle, in the powdery, ash-
toms declaration ever filed. Courtesy NASA.
like soil of the desolate and windless Sea of
Tranquillity.
down on the moon, his heart pounding more
This moment of lunar landfall, and the mo-
than twice its normal beat-156 beats a min-
ment of Neil Armstrong's first steps in the an-
ute-as he accomplished one giant leap for
cient moon soil some six and a half hours later,
mankind. But many Star Wars kids were not
symbolize humankind's never-ending reach
even born; others were too young to remember.
outward. When all else is forgotten in the twen-
For them, and for those of us who will never for-
tieth century, Apollo 11 and the other voyages of
get, this is a recounting of the dramatic and dan-
Apollo to the moon will be remembered. The
gerous descent of the moonship Eagle to the Sea
year 1969 will be known to future generations
of Tranquillity.
as the year that humankind burst from its terres-
On Sunday morning, July 20, 1969, the lunar
trial bonds. After the Eagle descended onto the
module Eagle undocked from Columbia, the
dry lunar sea, the human mind would never
command ship. "The Eagle has wings," Arm-
again be the same. The event created the twenti-
strong radioed to earth. The two spacecraft then
eth-century pyramids: pyramids made not of
flew in formation, and Michael Collins in Co-
stone, but of new ideas filled with human possi-
lumbia visually inspected the Eagle to ensure it
bility, thrust inside humanity's head by the tri-
was not damaged and would function properly.
umph of Apollo 11.
Collins reported that everything appeared ready
Every baby boomer remembers where he or
for descent. "I think you've got a fine looking
she was on that summer afternoon in July 1969,
flying machine down there, despite the fact that
when commander Armstrong's Eagle touched
you're upside down," Collins quipped. Houston
A SPACE HISTORY: THE GOLDEN YEARS
39
GENERAL DECLARATION
(Outward/Inward)
AGRICULTURE, CUSTOMS. IMMIGRATION. AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Owner Operator
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
Marks of
Nationality and Registration
U.S.A.
Flight
No.
APOLLO
11
Date
JULY 24, 1969
Departure from
MOON
Arrival at
HONOLULU HAWAII. U.S.A.
(Please and Country)
(Place Country)
FLIGHT ROUTING
("Place" Column always to list origin, every en-rowis stop and destination)
TOTAL NUMBER
NUMBER OF PASSENGERS
PLACE
OF CREW
ON THIS STAGE
CARGO
COMMANDER
CAPE KENNEDY
NEIL ALLARYSTRONG
MOON
Departure Place
Embarking
NIL
MOON ROCK AND
JULY 24, 1969
COLONEL
MOON DUST
Through on
HONOLULU
EDWIN E, ALDRIN, JR,
same Right
NIL
SAMPLES
Cargo
Manifests Attached
Arrival Place
Disembarking NIL
Wallin
Through OR
NIL
same Right
LT. COLONEL
MICHAEL COLLINS
For official only
Declaration of Health
Persons - beard known to be suffering from illness other than airsickness of
the aforts of socidents, M well as these - of illness disembarked during the
Right:
NONE
HONOLULU AIRPORT
Honolulu, Hawaii
ENTERED
ollo 11,
Any other condition on board which may lead be the spread of disease:
n for the
Enisst Unuse
TO BE DETERMINED
Customs impector
Apollo
Details of each disineerting or samilary treatment (place, date, time, method)
he Apol-
during - Right. If disinserting has been carried out during the Right give
details of meet recent disinsering
eatre.
ual cus-
Bigned, required
Cree Member Concerned
I declare that all statements and particulars rentained in this General Declaration, and in any supplementary forms
required to be presented with this General Declaration are complete. exact and true to the beet of my knowledge and that
Mill through passengers will continue/ continued on Live fight.
} more
a min-
take them to an altitude of 50,000 feet (15,240
ap for
meters) above the moon.
re not
At five minutes into the burn, as the Eagle de-
ember.
scended to 6,000 feet (1,829 meters), a yellow
er for-
caution light came on.
d dan-
"Program alarm!" Armstrong reported loud-
ne Sea
ly. "It's a 1202!" Houston came back with a go.
The 1202 was an executive overflow of the on-
lunar
board computer, which meant that the comput-
1, the
gave Eagle a go for powered descent. An hour
er was forced to postpone some things because
Arm-
after undocking, on the far side of the moon, the
it had too much to do at once. At about 3,000
t then
Eagle's descent engine was fired, making the
feet (914 meters) above the surface, the yellow
n Co-
first of two engine burns to reach the moon's
caution light flashed again, this time a 1201 pro-
ure it
surface, a descent that would last only 12 min-
gram alarm, another overflow condition. Again
perly.
utes and 34 seconds after millions of man-hours
the ground told the crew that descent was still
ready
and billions of dollars had been spent to prepare
go and to ignore the alarm.
oking
for it. Eagle was still some 60 miles (95.5 kilome-
t that
Armstrong and Aldrin kept on responding to
ters) above the surface when Armstrong and Al-
four more such alarms in about four minutes.
iston
drin initiated the first engine burn, which would
Steve Bales, the computer flight controller back
40
THE OMNI SPACE ALMANAC
in Houston, who made the go decision, was
Armstrong's view. It was like a ground fog, but
"believing" the landing radar. As it turned out
it had movement and made it impossible for
he was right; it was the rendezvous radar, not
Armstrong to judge his altitude or forward mo-
the landing radar, causing the computer over-
tion. He tried to judge by picking out large rocks
load. Had Steve Bales thought otherwise, the
and watching them through the haze!
Eagle would never have landed-Bales would
Thirty seconds of fuel remained! At 33 feet
have ordered a mission abort.
(10 meters) above the surface, Eagle started slip-
The alarms and instrument readings had tak-
ping to the left and moving backward. But there
en the crew's full attention, and they were un-
was no rear window. What dangerous obstacles
able to look out the window from an altitude of
were behind him? The rim of a crater?
5,000 feet (1,524 meters) to determine their lo-
Armstrong stopped the backward motion, but
cation. When they finally could look out, they
not the drift to the left. He didn't want to slow
were only 1,968 feet (600 meters) above the lu-
the descent any more; there were only seconds
nar surface and had only three minutes of fuel
of fuel left. He was concentrating so hard that he
left. Immediately Armstrong saw that they were
did not feel the first touch on the moon's surface
heading for a large boulder field that surround-
or hear Aldrin call out "contact light" when the
ed a crater; and the larger boulders were 16 feet
footpad probes brushed the surface. The land-
(5 meters) in diameter, big enough to burst open
ing was gentle, at about 1 foot (0.3 meters) per
the belly of the Eagle. It was here that Arm-
second. They were down, with only twenty sec-
strong's heart rate soared to 156 beats a minute.
onds of fuel left! Eagle was on the moon at a
Aldrin continued to call out the descent and
slight tilt-about 4.5 degrees from the verti-
feet-per-second forward motion rates. They
cal-some 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) beyond the
were now about 300 feet (90.5 meters) above
programmed landing area. The first words from
the moon. It was then that Armstrong decided
the moon were Aldrin's: "Okay, engine stop."
he must take manual control of the moonship
And then seconds later, Neil Armstrong's fam-
and fly over the West Crater and boulder field in
ous "The Eagle has landed." The moon dust
search of a smoother landing area. Ground con-
cleared. The blazing bright moonscape revealed
trol noticed that Eagle's forward speed suddenly
itself. The earth had changed. Two men were on
shot up to 80 feet (24 meters) per second-
the moon.
about 55 miles (88.5 kilometers) per hour. This
was not according to the flight plan.
Setting Up Tranquillity Base. Moonship Eagle
As he searched for a landing site, Armstrong
remained on the moon's surface for 21.6 hours.
asked Aldrin how much descent fuel was left,
About six and a half hours after landing the
but Aldrin was too busy watching the computer;
hatch was opened and Neil Armstrong backed
he didn't hear him. Armstrong then slowed the
out onto the lunar module's "front porch." It
forward speed. They were only 100 feet (30.5
was 10:39 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time-prime
meters) above the moon. Finally he found a
TV time in the United States. Seventeen min-
small smooth clearing about the size of a house
utes later, Armstrong planted his left boot on
lot and headed for it: On one side were craters;
the surface of the moon and spoke his "small
on the other side was a field of boulders. Then,
step
giant leap," phrase that will never be
abruptly, a red light flashed on the control pan-
edited out of the history books.
el, and a warning came on in Mission Control
"The surface is fine and powdery
I can
back on earth. Only 5 percent of their descent
pick it up loosely with my toe. It does adhere in
fuel remained. If they were not on the surface
fine layers like powdered charcoal to the sole
within ninety-four seconds, they would be
and sides of my boots. I only go in a small frac-
forced to abort and fire Eagle's ascent engine.
tion of an inch, maybe an eighth of an inch
Only sixty seconds of fuel remained. Lunar
It's actually no trouble to walk around."
dust kicked up by the descent engine obscured
Aldrin followed at 11:11 P.M. When he plant-
Nat'l. Geographic Dec
1969
III: The Flight of Apollo 11
"Or
By KENNETH F. WEAVER, Assistant Editor
WO THOUSAND FEET above the Sea
just before it crashed. Now he would need all
Moreo
T
of Tranquillity, the little silver, black,
the coolness and skill acquired during 500
compute
signals
'
and gold space bug named Eagle braked
earthbound hours in simulators and during
itself with a tail of flame as it plunged toward
years test-flying the X-15 and other experi-
overload
the face of the moon. The two men inside-
mental aircraft for the National Aeronautics
the comp
standing like the motorman in a 19th-century
and Space Administration.
speed, a
trolley car-strained to see their goal. Guided
The problem was not completely unex-
could gu
by numbers from their computer, they sighted
pected. Shortly after Armstrong and his com-
Ea
through a grid on one triangular window.
panion, Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin, had begun their
Suddenly they spotted the onrushing tar-
powered dive for the lunar surface ten min-
Armst
get. What they saw set the adrenalin pump-
utes earlier, they had checked against land-
controlle
ing and the blood racing. Instead of the level,
marks such as crater Maskelyne (below) and
said not]
obstacle-free plain called for in the Apollo 11
discovered that they were going to land some
The men
flight plan, they were aimed for a sharply
distance beyond their intended target.
miles aw
etched crater, 600 feet across and surrounded
And there were other complications. Com-
voice of
by heavy boulders.
munications with earth had been blacking
"Hang
For Astronaut Neil Armstrong, at the con-
out at intervals. These failures had height-
Telem
trols of the frail, spidery craft, a crisis in
ened an already palpable tension in the con-
tude dro]
flight was nothing new. In 1966 he had sub-
trol room in Houston. This unprecedented
The bel
dued the wildly gyrating Gemini 8 when one
landing was the trickiest, most dangerous
warning.
of its thrusters stuck. More recently, he had
part of the flight Without information and
Not ti
ejected safely from the "flying bedstead," a
help from the ground, Eagle might have to
speak ag
752
jet-powered lunar-landing training vehicle,
abandon its attempt.
"750 [alt
second, C
down at
EKTACHROME. NASA: OVERLAY BY GEOGRAPHIC ART DIVISION © N.G.S.
feet, dow
330, 3
as it sho
But n
Houston
Eagle ha
denly-}
its forwa
GASHES."
-about
not acco
Orbiting
MASKEYNE
tronauts
site near t
in landin
DIAMONDBA
low enou
SIDEWINDER
RILLE
lief. The
-for mar
ers create
MASKELYNE W.
WASH BASIN
MASKELYNE'B
"They m:
Houston':
(right) fla
Landing
cized ver
Craters I
honor ear
ollo 11
"One giant leap for mankind"
Now he would need all
Moreover, the spacecraft's all-important
At last forward speed slackened again and
acquired during 500
computer had repeatedly flashed the danger
downward velocity picked up slightly.
imulators and during
signals "1201" and "1202," warning of an
"Down at 2½ [feet per second], 19 forward
-15 and other experi-
overload. If continued, it would interfere with
3½ down, 220 feet [altitude]
11 forward,
National Aeronautics
the computer's job of calculating altitude and
coming down nicely, 200 feet, 4½ down
ion.
speed, and neither autopilot nor astronaut
160,
6½
down
9 forward
100 feet."
not completely unex-
could guide Eagle to a safe landing.
And then, abruptly, a red light flashed on
mstrong and his com-
Eagle's Descent Fuel Runs Low
Eagle's instrument panel, and a warning came
ldrin, had begun their
on in Mission Control. To the worried flight
unar surface ten min-
Armstrong revealed nothing to the ground
controllers the meaning was clear. Only 5 per-
checked against land-
controllers about the crater ahead. Indeed, he
cent of Eagle's descent fuel remained. By
[askelyne (below) and
said nothing at all; he was much too busy.
mission rules, Eagle must be on the surface
:re going to land some
The men back on earth, a quarter of a million
within 94 seconds or the crew must abort-
ntended target.
miles away, heard only the clipped, deadpan
give up the attempt to land on the moon.
complications. Com-
voice of Aldrin, reading off the instruments.
They would have to fire the descent engine
h had been blacking
"Hang tight; we're go. 2,000 feet."
full throttle and then ignite the ascent engine
failures had height-
Telemetry on the ground showed the alti-
to get back into lunar orbit for a rendezvous
le tension in the con-
tude
dropping
1,600 feet
1,400
1,000.
with Columbia, the mother ship.
This unprecedented
The beleaguered computer flashed another
When only 60 seconds remained, the count-
iest, most dangerous
warning. The two men far away said nothing.
down began. The quivering second hands on
out information and
Not till Eagle reached 750 feet did Aldrin
stopwatches began the single sweep that
Eagle might have to
speak again. And now it was a terse litany:
would spell success or failure.
"750 [altitude], coming down at 23 [feet per
"Sixty seconds," called Astronaut Charles
second, or about 16 miles an hour]
600
feet,
Duke, the capsule communicator (CapCom)
down at 19 540 feet, down at 15
400
BY GEOGRAPHIC ART DIVISION © N.G.S.
in Houston. Sixty seconds to go. Every man
feet,
down
at
9
8 [feet per second] forward
in the control center held his breath.
330, 3½ down." Eagle was braking its fall,
Failure would be especially hard to take
as it should, and nosing slowly forward.
now. Some four days and six hours before, the
But now the men in the control room in
world had watched a perfect, spectacularly
Houston realized that something was wrong.
beautiful launch at Kennedy Space Center,
Eagle had almost stopped dropping, but sud-
Florida. Apollo 11 had flown flawlessly, un-
denly-between 300 and 200 feet altitude-
eventfully, almost to the moon. Now it could
its forward speed shot up to 80 feet a second
all be lost for lack of a few seconds of fuel.
-about 55 miles an hour! This was strictly
"Light's on." Aldrin confirmed that the
not according to plan.
(Continued on page 762)
Orbiting 70 miles above the moon, Eagle's as-
MASKELYNE
tronauts spy out their shadowy landing site. The
CRISES
site near the dawn line was chosen so that the men,
MONDBACI
in landing, would have the sun behind them and
low enough to show surface features in sharp re-
lief. The astronauts had nicknames-here quoted
-for many lunar landmarks. One of Eagle's thrust-
ers creates the silhouette at left.
3
2
"They made it!" The jubilant cry rings out in
Houston's Mission Control when a display panel
(right) flashes a likeness of Eagle touching down at
Ptolemoeu
Landing Site 2. Place names in capitals are Angli-
Theophilus
cized versions of Latin-named maria, or "seas."
Craters Ptolemaeus, Theophilus, and Langrenus
NECTAR
honor early astronomers.
EXTACHROME BY A. PATNESKY, NASA
753
(Continued from page 753)
The spacecraft probes had touched the sur-
Kennedy had announced
astronauts had seen the fuel warning light.
face. A second or two later Aldrin announced,
decade is out, of landing
"Down 2½ [feet per second]," Aldrin con-
"O.K., engine stop."
and returning him safely
tinued. "Forward, forward. Good. 40 feet
Still later, the now-famous words from
people had firmly belie
[altitude], down 2½. Picking up some dust. 30
Neil Armstrong: "Tranquillity Base here. The
Union was racing to p
feet. 2½ down. Faint shadow."
Eagle has landed."
moon first.
He had seen the shadow of one of the 68-
And, with joy in his voice, CapCom replied:
In the past year or SC
inch probes extending from Eagle's footpads.
"Roger, Tranquillity, we copy you on the
seemed to dim, but as A
"Four forward
4 forward, drifting to the
ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn
the moon, the news that
right a little."
blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."
in lunar orbit lent color
"Thirty seconds," announced CapCom.
It was 4:17:43 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time,
the Soviets hoped to lan
Thirty seconds to failure. In the control cen-
Sunday, July 20, 1969.
scoop up some lunar S
ter, George Hage, Mission Director for Apollo
11, was pleading silently: "Get it down, Neil!
Feat Watched by the World
earth before the Ame
could get home. Only W
Get it down!"
Man's dream of going to the moon was ful-
in Mare Crisium-the
The seconds ticked away.
filled. The most exciting adventure in human
500 miles from Tranq
"Forward, drifting right," Aldrin said.
memory now neared its climax as the two
way clear for the U.S.
And then, with less than 20 seconds left,
men prepared to step out on the lunar sur-
That triumph was an
came the magic words: "Contact light!"
face, while their fellow crew member, Mike
for those who argued
Collins, kept vigil in his orbiting command
manned space flight. V
module, Columbia, 70 miles above.
controls, they pointed
To me, it is impossible to compare this ex-
most certainly have cras
ploit with the epic feats of the great 15th- and
ing field of boulders.
16th-century navigators, of the 20th-century
The full story became
polar explorers, or of Lindbergh in 1927. The
astronauts returned to e
differences are too profound, and one of the
strong first spotted the
most important of those differences is that the
the grid on his windo
whole world was watching.
know where he was.
According to estimates, one out of every
toward which he was 1
four persons on the face of the earth watched
fied as "West Crater" (
or heard the astronauts by television or radio
was just within the S
as they ventured to the moon. Nearly 850 for-
planned landing ellipse
eign journalists, representing 55 countries and
long and 3.2 miles wide
speaking 33 languages, reported the story
marks the astronauts h
from Cape Kennedy and Houston.
fully before the flight
Americans abroad were thrilled by the im-
hind them, and were 0
pact of the flight on foreign peoples. Dr. Louis
Armstrong had no d
B. Wright, former Director of the Folger
what to do; he had fa
Shakespeare Library and a National Geo-
many times before in t
graphic Society Trustee, observed the effect
Taking over partial
firsthand in Italy. With 25,000 other people he
autopilot, he ordered
was attending a performance of Aïda in the
the craft at a steady al
Roman Arena at Verona on that Sunday night.
its head, reducing the
"At the first intermission," Dr. Wright re-
calls, "an announcement was made in four
languages: 'The Americans have just landed
Prelude to touch
on the moon at 10:17.' My watch said 10:28.
Apollo 11 brakes
"The crowd applauded wildly. Here and
(red, 1). Two revo
there spectators pulled little United States
module engine fir
EKTACHROME BY MICHAEL COLLINS, NASA
"The Eagle has wings," Armstrong radios
flags from their pockets and waved them.
orbit circular (blu
after separating from the mother ship. Col-
And for days afterward, when Italians met
undock (3), and C
me on the street, they all had one word for
make sure everyth
lins made this picture from Columbia while
inspecting the LM to be sure it functioned
the flight-Fantastico!"
The two craft dra
properly.
And so it was-with different inflections—
to lower its orbit
"It looked more like a praying mantis
in Buenos Aires and Sydney, Tokyo and Delhi,
final approach. Se
to touchdown (7)
than a first-class flying machine," Collins
Dublin and Madrid.
Cutaway painti
said of the craft. "but it was a beautiful
The thrill of a race had added to the excite-
alone in Columbi
piece of machinery."
ment. Since 1961, when President John F.
together in Eagle
762
August 8, 1988
The Vice President
The White House
Washington, D. C.
Dear Mr. Vice President:
We, the undersigned Astronauts, urge your continued support for
NASA and the permanently manned Space Station in your campaign
and future administration. The Space Station is the key to the
future of the U.S. Space program, both to capture the benefits
of space in earth orbit and to explore the solar system.
In 1969, when we landed on the moon, we were clearly and
unquestionably the leader in space exploration. Like Columbus,
we had gone beyond our world in search of the unknown. We were
first. We were the best. And, we were proud to be Americans.
Our advancements in space technology spurred advancements in
education, commerce and industry. Our ability, our vision, and
our expertise were the envy of the world.
Today, we are not the same America, but we can be. Soon, the
Shuttle will resume flight and the next President will determine
the strength of our commitment to space by deciding to move
ahead with Space Station development or allowing other, more
ambitious countries to proceed without us. The Space Station
has been international from its inception with Europe, Canada,
and Japan playing major roles. It will provide a centerpiece
for international cooperation in space, enhancing U.S. space
leadership.
Our generation has worked hard to leave a legacy for our
children, for humanity. The Space Station is a continuation of
that legacy. NASA has defined a Space Station program which
will provide the stepping stone to further space exploration and
will assure free world leadership in space during the 21st
century. The configuration selected by NASA has been
independently reviewed and endorsed by the National Research
Council. If we step back now, others will pass us by.
We hope you continue your visible support for NASA and the
permanently manned Space Station during your campaign, and
especially during your presidency.
Sincerely,
John Jenn
Wallww Stima
John Glenn
Walter Shirra
Mercury-Friendship 7
Mercury-Sigma 7,
Gemini 6, Apollo 7
Book h
Gordon Cooper
Mercury-Faith 7,
James James Gemini McDivitt 4, Apollo 9
Gemini 5
Laila Charles Conrad amoja
Gemini 5, Gemini 11,
Jall Frank Gemini Borman Dow 7, Apollo 8
Apollo 12, Skylab 2
James Lovell
Them Gemini Thomas Stafford 6, Gemini E Stefful
Gemini 7, Gemini 12,
Apollo 8, Apollo 13
permisente
Apollo 10, Apollo 18
in
Gemini Neil Yul Armstrong 8, Apollo/11
for
Gun lemony
Eugene Cernan
Gemini 9, Apollo 10,
Apollo 17
Bichard Dordor
Richard Gordon
Walter Apollo Walter Cunningham 7 Cummingham
Gemini 11, Apollo 12
ALBa/ Fred w. Haise
Alan Bean
Fred Haise
Apollo 12, Skylab 3
Apollo 13
Stuart Roosa
Apollo 14
Jon James Apollo B. Irwin 15 from
Duke Ron Ronald Evans Evans
Charles
Apollo 16
Apollo 17
Harrism Whelmin
Josephon Joseph Kerwin Kerumi
Harrison Schmitt
Apollo 17
Skylab 2
Owen Saniott
JackSman Jack Lousma
Owen Garriott
Skylab 3, STS 9
Skylab 3, STS 3
Jary Skylab Gerald 4 Carr Carr
Edward Gibson
Skylab 4
William Bullogre Pogue
Donald Slayton
Skylab 4
Apollo 18
I Coordinated this
letter last year
and have the
Telephone # and
Address of each
Astonant should
the White House was
to enlist their
support,
224 THE OMNI SPACE ALMANAC
either side of the acceleration shaft, which
team, chemical rocketry, not nuclear, would
ear
would be several miles (kilometers) in length.
take men to the moon.
Sta
With free sunlight for power and inexpensive
Freeman Dyson, the well-known American
reaction material for the mass driver, asteroids
physicist, was involved in Project Orion almost
ser
weighing millions of tons, with diameters of
from the beginning, and he developed several
el.
thousands of feet (hundreds of meters), can be
nuclear-pulse designs, which included the giant
of
moved closer to the earth-moon system for min-
pusher-plate concept. Once such design called
do
ing operations that could provide an abundance
for thousands of microhydrogen "bomb" explo-
the
of new resources to replace the dwindling sup-
sions every few seconds, which would give the
plies on planet Earth.
spaceship its thrust. Dyson estimated that this
starship could reach 3 percent the speed of light,
tec
have a payload of 45,000 tons, and reach the
ter
Fusion Spaceships
nearest star to the sun, Alpha Centauri, in about
of
130 years. That the Star Wars films have given
sy
The era of chemical rocketry will be replaced by
many of us false expectations about interstellar
ry
nuclear forms of propulsion in the first decades
travel times is undeniable. Real space travel be-
pu
of the twenty-first century. Many experts agree
tween the stars is still a tremendous challenge
ot
that it will be some form of fusion spaceship that
for some of the best minds the world has so far
will dominate the next century, enabling rockets
produced. The distances to be traveled are diffi-
to travel to Mars in a few weeks and eventually
cult to comprehend. Only one part in one hun-
dr
head out of the solar system as humankind's first
dred million of the volume of the universe is
starships on missions to neighboring stars. The
filled with stars, and if we represented our sun
in
dream of reaching the stars is alive and well, al-
by a basketball atop the Pan Am Building in
though the starships that may someday travel
New York City, the next star would be another
the trillions of miles (kilometers) between the
basketball some 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers)
stars represent formidable challenges to the most
away in Hawaii. On the same scale, the earth
brilliant engineering and scientific minds today.
would be a tiny pea-size object just over 100 feet
Even the United States government pursued
(30 meters) up Park Avenue from the Pan Am
a
development of nuclear rockets for seventeen
Building.
years and spent $1.7 billion on the programs.
P
The idea of a fusion-propelled spacecraft was
first described by scientists at Los Alamos in
After Project Orion
1955. Referred to as a pulsed nuclear rocket or a
d
pulsed fusion system, it depends on the contin-
In 1978 the British Interplanetary Society pub-
uous detonation of low-yield hydrogen bombs
lished Project Daedalus, a detailed feasibility
sl
behind the vehicle. The extremely hot plasma
study, including the mathematical calculations,
jet and shock waves from these many microex-
of an unmanned, robot-monitored interstellar
plosions would hit a huge pusher plate to which
mission, based on available technology, that
S
giant shock absorbers would be attached, and
would fly to Barnard's Star in forty-seven years
together they would smooth out the separate
at 14 percent the speed of light. The Daedalus
detonations and provide constant thrust. This
star probe study used a variation of the nuclear-
S
was the work of the famous Project Orion,
pulse propulsion system, and the mission fuel
which struggled along from 1958 to 1965, until
requirements would be 20,000 tons of deuteri-
it became a victim of the Sputnik response and
um and 30,000 tons of helium-3. The deuterium
the profound institutional changes that took
would be obtained on earth from the oceans, but
place in the United States, including the forma-
the all-important helium-3 would have to be
tion of NASA and a new list of national priori-
mined from the atmosphere of Jupiter. From the
ties. Under the leadership of the von Braun
time the starship started to be built to the time
ROCKETS & SPACESHIPS 225
uld
earth received data from its flyby of Barnard's
mechanical accelerator in the rocket engine
Star, it would take some eighty years.
would inject five hundred of these pellets into
can
Without question, Project Daedalus was a
the thrust chamber each second. As each pellet
ost
seminal study in the pursuit of interstellar trav-
reached the fusion point, it would be struck by a
eral
el. Its tens of thousands of words, and hundreds
laser pulse that would last for less than a bil-
ant
of diagrams and calculations leave no doubt that
lionth of a second. Optical mirrors would focus
led
dozens of brilliant people are seriously studying
the laser pulses on the pellets.
lo-
the problems of journeys to the stars.
When the fusion occurred, a fraction of the
the
But will Daedalus ever fly? Probably concep-
fuel mass would contain the same power that
this
tual parts of it will, but the explosive rate of
keeps the stars burning throughout the uni-
;ht,
technological advances is likely to drastically al-
verse. Two-thirds of this fusion energy would
the
ter the design, including the propulsion system,
then be converted into a moving stream of
out
of any unmanned starship that leaves our solar
charged particles that would give the spaceship
ven
system in the last half of the twenty-first centu-
momentum and would be dispersed as exhaust.
llar
ry. But as an example of the nuclear-pulse pro-
Such an advanced propulsion system could
be-
pulsion system that has been integrated with all
drive spaceships at a velocity that is 1/100th the
nge
other necessary starship systems, it is an impor-
speed of light, perhaps faster. But even at
far
tant first effort. And it has motivated some bril-
1/10th the speed of light, the vast distances to
iffi-
liant minds to pursue their drawing-board
the nearest moving stars would take fifty to one
un-
dreams of the first starship. (See Chapter 12,
hundred years for a one-way trip. If the earth's
e is
"Extraterrestrials and Star Trips" for more
polar diameter of 7,900 miles (12,700 kilome-
sun
information.)
ters) represents 1 inch (2.54 centimeters), then
in
at the same scale, the nearest star from our solar
her
system is some 50,000 miles (80,450 kilometers)
ers)
The Laser Fusion Rocket
away. Such distances challenge the ingenuity
arth
and creative genius of our species.
feet
An advanced propulsion system that will power
A fusion spaceship may set out from our solar
Am
a starship or a fast interplanetary spaceship
system late in the twenty-first century, but if the
needs to be at least one thousand times more
technology is available in the middle of the next
powerful than today's state-of-the-art chemical
century, fast fusion spaceships will be traveling
rockets, and research done at the Lawrence Liv-
the trade routes between the planets first. With
ermore National Laboratory in the 1970s pro-
their speed, they will help to rein in the solar
duced one on paper that may become the rocket
system and bring it closer to human scale. Com-
ub-
of the twenty-first century: a laser fusion rocket-
mercial and scientific missions within the solar
ility
ship powered by thousands of microexplosions.
system will always have priority over a starship
ons,
Instead of hitting a giant pusher plate as they
mission. Any spaceship capable of journeying to
ellar
did in the Project Orion concept, microexplo-
the planet Mars in a few weeks will be in high
that
sions would be contained and directed by a
demand among the spacefaring nations and cor-
ears
magnetic field that would act as a rocket nozzle.
porations of planet Earth. And if the laser fusion
alus
As the plasma fireball expanded from the explo-
spaceship is built, it will owe its existence to the
ear-
sion, the magnetic field would blow it out the
intensive fusion research of the last few decades
fuel
back as rocket exhaust.
of this century, especially to the top-secret work
teri-
For the explosions, a high-energy laser would
now being conducted on high-technology de-
ium
first create an implosion system that would
fensive space weapons. It seems appropriate
but
compress hydrogen to more than ten thousand
that what may be the key to reaching the stars
be
times its liquid density. This would make possi-
involves human ingenuity recreating billions of
the
ble the efficient thermonuclear burn of small
tiny stars inside the spaceships that may carry
time
pellets of heavy hydrogen isotopes. A rotating
us to them across the vast interstellar void.
226
THE OMNI SPACE ALMANAC
tion rocket would convert all-not just a frac-
The Ultimate Fusion Rocket
tion-of its fuel mass into energy.
If such a M-AM rocket system could be built
If a temperature of 2 billion degrees can ever be
to fully convert a pound or kilogram of fuel into
achieved and sustained, the ultimate fusion
an exhaust beam and reaction force, it would be
rocket engine driven by hydrogen and boron
five billion times the energy release from the
becomes possible. Boron-11 is commonly found
equivalent fuel mass in the most advanced
in nature, and whatever amounts were needed
chemical rockets.
could be routinely extracted from seawater.
Although some two hundred to three hun-
Such a hydrogen-boron reaction would pro-
dred antiprotons have been stored for several
duce only charged particles and practically no
days at the European Center for Nuclear Re-
side reactions. It could eventually offer direct
search, storage for any practical length of time is
conversion of energy and would produce no
beyond the reach of present technology.
neutrons or radioactivity. Such a boron-hydro-
The challenges of producing practical quanti-
gen fueled fusion spaceship would be so power-
ties of antimatter, storing it, and directing its en-
ful that its design would not have to compro-
ergy release are formidable. But if earthling
mise with gravity. But its nuclear-pulse engine
minds and their creative technology ever solve
would have to withstand the incredible 2-bil-
these subatomic perplexities, this far-in-the-fu-
lion-degree temperatures, and today's technol-
ture rocketship may use the most common ele-
ogy does not even begin to have the engineering
ment in the universe-hydrogen-to speed it to
solutions to produce materials that can with-
new planets around distant stars. Pit antihydro-
stand such temperatures, which are more than
gen, composed of antielectrons and antiprotons,
one hundred times hotter than the center of our
against ordinary hydrogen's electrons and pro-
sun and can be found nowhere in our solar
tons, and the reaction would in theory produce
system.
a 100-percent conversion to energy (mass anni-
hilation) and an unimaginable performance bil-
lions of times more efficient than those baby
The Alpha Centauri Express?
rockets of the early Space Age-the ones we fly
today.
Beyond a perfected fusion rocket sometime in
Such a superrocket would harness the ele-
the next century, what theoretical propulsion
mental. forces of the universe to penetrate its
systems could help earth folk break out to the
time and distance. Humankind could begin its
stars and open up the age of interstellar flight?
migration to other stellar neighborhoods in the
The matter-antimatter propelled spaceship
Milky Way galaxy
(M-AM for short) is the one most often consid-
ered, but no expert is willing to predict when
such a spaceship could be built-if one can ever
Another Way-Out, Exotic Rocket
be built. It must be emphasized that such a pro-
pulsion system remains highly theoretical in the
If no scientist alive today has the slightest idea
last decades of the twentieth century.
of how to design and build a photon rocket, why
In 1932 Paul Dirac, an English physicist, dis-
even consider it as a possibility for the far fu-
covered the positron, which verified the exis-
ture? The only justification for thinking that a
tence in nature of a particle-antiparticle symme-
photon rocket may exist someday is that the
try. All known particles have antiparticles, and
idea of one exists, created by the human mind,
when particles of matter and antimatter come
and the historic record is filled with tens of
together, their energy is released. The mass of
thousands of ideas that have become reality.
both these particles is then converted into 100
What would a photon rocket be? It would be
percent energy. In theory, such a mass annihila-
another form of mass-annihilation propulsion,
ROCKETS & SPACESHIPS 227
frac-
like the matter-antimatter fueled rocket. Theo-
energy produced by a small power plant. But if
retically this rocket's exhaust beam of photons
such speeds could ever be realized, they would
built
could thrust the spaceship to the speed of light,
put one-way trips to some of the nearest stars
!1 into
but the on-paper mathematical dreams indicate
such as Alpha Centauri and Barnard's Star a de-
ild be
that the best designs would be limited to 60 per-
cade away. People could travel to the stars and
n the
cent the speed of light. The power requirements
return within their own lifetimes; it would not
inced
of such a rocket appear impossible today, how-
be a journey requiring several generations. And
ever. Each pound of thrust would require 668
the cosmic prize might be a "new" planet for
hun-
megawatts of energy, more than 2,200 times the
humankind after Mars gets crowded.
veral
r Re-
me is
anti-
S en-
aling
solve
e-fu-
ele-
it to
dro-
tons,
pro-
duce
nni-
bil-
aby
e fly
ele-
: its
1 its
the
dea
/hy
fu-
it a
the
nd,
of
be
on,
EXTRATERRESTRIALS & STAR TRIPS
363
è the UFOs
lecular clouds from which stars are born, once
nly one or
Seeding the Earth
the condensed gas and dust builds up pressure
ntact with
and temperature until the fusion process begins.
vaits some
Francis Crick's concept of panspermia is one
At some point in the evolution of these great in-
at, in the
súch theory-that life was seeded on earth by
terstellar clouds, they become biologically
he first ET
an extraterrestrial civilization many aeons ago,
active.
when primordial earth had the conditions favor-
Hoyle has also presented a theory that dis-
able for the development of life. The idea of
eases on earth have come via comets from
panspermia was first put forward by Lord Kel-
space. While Ponnamperuma goes so far as to
vin; he suggested that life came to planet Earth
admit that organic molecules can exist on com-
on the back of a meteorite. Crick's version, pre-
ets and that, under special conditions, some
by intel-
sented in his book Life Itself, was formed in col-
type of cometary life could evolve, he dismisses
ssible ex-
laboration with Leslie Orgel, a biochemist at the
Hoyle's theory as "bizarre": "To get a virus,
other ex-
Salk Institute, and was in large part an intellec-
specific to a human, evolved completely away
ithin the
tual exercise that grew out of an international
from the earth is very, very hard to accept," says
nd flow-
meeting on the topic of communication with ex-
Ponnamperuma. "You've got to throw away all
: low life
traterrestrial intelligence held in the Armenian
of modern biology."
e found
Republic in 1971.
As skeptical as Ponnamperuma is about such
ce or at-
Many people believed that Crick had cracked
Johnny Appleseed ideas of spreading life about
the fact
the scientific limb he had been out on when he
the galaxy, he is a believer in extraterrestrial life
olypep-
seriously presented his panspermia ideas, but
and even gives the intelligent type a chance of
ve been
this winner of the Nobel Prize felt the concept
existing. He refuses to accept the idea that we
e possi-
should be fully explored as an alternative to life
are alone in the universe. The SETI searches, he
evolving from the primordial chemistry of an-
contends, have just begun to scratch the surface.
han fif-
cient earth-an explanation that Crick seriously
"In order to detect a signal, you probably have
n inter-
doubted and considered improbable because of
to look for at least thirty years."
hey in-
the numerous conditions and complex sequence
If humankind ever makes contact with ET life,
de, hy-
of events that had to be met before it could
there will be a whole shift in consciousness. We
en cya-
happen.
will, Ponnamperuma believes, "feel less freak-
ioxide.
Cyril Ponnamperuma, director of the Labora-
ish, part of a magnificent cosmic plan." Even if
e most
tory of Chemical Evolution at the University of
contact is not made in the next few thousand
cks of
Maryland, has wondered why Crick presented
years, this expert on chemical evolution be-
rogen.
the improbable explanation of an extraterrestrial
lieves, we humans will be leaving the solar sys-
mole-
civilization seeding planet Earth at just the right
tem and inhabiting other worlds orbiting other
e gal-
time in geological history as an alternative to
stars in our vast Milky Way galaxy. Humankind
:cited.
what the scientist considered another improba-
will evolve from terrestrial to extraterrestrial
ine to
ble history-life on earth from scratch, from the
life. We will become the extraterrestrials, the
acids
primordial soup.
members of the galactic club, perhaps its found-
r life.
"There's no way of disproving Crick's idea,"
ing members. What, after all, is a few thousand
scov-
Ponnamperuma told Omni magazine, "but I feel
years on the cosmic calendar? Approximately
teor-
uncomfortable with it
Sometimes I wonder
1/5,000,0p0th the age of the universe.
ough
whether he really believes what he wrote."
es to
Francis Crick is not alone in presenting some
nen-
unusual and controversial ideas about extrater-
To the Stars?
istry
restrial life and the origins of life on earth. The
In-
famous astronomer Fred Hoyle has also gone
Given enough time, so the speculation goes,
basis
out on what many peers consider to be a scien-
even the stars can be reached by earthlings and
e on
tific limb by arguing that life originally evolved
their interstellar ships. But is this so? Certainly it
(and continues to evolve) in the same vast mo-
would be somewhat easier for humankind to
364 THE OMNI SPACE ALMANAC
Pioneer 10, which flew by Jupiter in December 1973,
became the first human artifact to leave our solar system.
It is heading toward a point in the sky near the con-
stellations Taurus and Orion and may come "close" to
another star (a few light-years or tens of trillions of
miles) once every one to two million years! An average
distance between two stars equals about 228 million
times around the earth's equator. Courtesy TRW, Inc.
send automated starships to the nearby stars
than a peopled starship whose descendants
would reach a star, perhaps at the expense of
their descendants never seeing their home solar
system again. Whether such far-future starships
are piloted and tended by humans or robots is a
small question resting on the shoulders of a gi-
ant one: Why travel to the stars at all, especially
knowing the staggering quantities of energy and
resources needed to cross such deserted inter-
stellar voids? On the basis of what we know, or
even imagine, today, why would our techno-
logical civilization want to weigh anchor from
earth and set off toward the stars, a journey of
decades and centuries across trillions of miles
(kilometers) of interstellar space? There is plen-
ty, after all, to keep us busy right here in our
own solar system.
The distances between the stars, based on to-
day's spacecraft speeds, appear impossible to
cross. An Apollo spacecraft at its average earth-
moon and return speed, would take some
850,000 years to reach the nearest star to our
sun, Proxima Centauri, one of the three stars of
the Alpha Centauri system, 4.3 light-years
away. Pioneer 10 was the first man-made object
to leave the solar system, in June 1983, and it
carried the first cosmic postcard in the form of
the famous gold-plated aluminum plaque with
its naked man and woman and other engraved
message elements designed and drawn by
Frank Drake and Carl and Linda Sagan. The
spacecraft left the solar system at a speed of
about 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers) an hour,
heading toward a point in the sky near the con-
stellations Taurus and Orion. Astronomers esti-
mated that this human artifact might come
"close" (a few light-years or tens of trillions of
miles or kilometers) to another star once every
one or two million years. For it to enter the plan-
EXTRATERRESTRIALS & STAR TRIPS
365
etary system of a distant sun, it was estimated,
again, and it does not have to challenge the
ten billion (one thousand million) years would
light-years to prove that it continues to endure.
have to pass!
There are two reasons earth folk would build
If we scale down the average-size star to a di-
their starships in the next few hundred years
ameter of 1 inch (2.5 centimeters), about half the
and point them in the direction of the nearby
size of a golf ball, then the next star would be
stars. If an intelligent signal is received from ex-
100 miles (161 kilometers) away. Our sun's real
traterrestrial life within about ten light-years
diameter is 109 times that of the earth's, or some
(the odds are against this occurrence), then
865,000 miles (1,391,785 kilometers), equal to
there would be a powerful motivation to travel
about 36 times around the planet Earth. An av-
to them for an encounter, or at least to meet
erage distance between two stars, then, is equal
them halfway. The other reason for such a mi-
to some 228 million times around the earth's
gration would be survival of our species, a
equator. Expressed in a more personal way, this
threat to our solar system or our sun that would
distance between the stars would be like having
be known for a long time in advance. It is con-
your next-door neighbor in the suburbs living
ceivable, for example, that new knowledge
about 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) away!
about the sun could predict a shortened solar
Talking about the nearest star to our sun is
life span and make interstellar human migration
one thing, but when galactic distances are de-
essential for survival of the species. Assuming
scribed, the human scale of space and time is
that there are no such cosmic upheavals in our
swallowed up in one great cosmic gulp. Both the
corner of the cosmos, it would then seem that
Voyager spacecraft will leave the solar system
only a communication with ET life within just a
by the end of the century. But at their average
few light-years would provide the impetus for
speed relative to the sun, it would take them six
starships setting off across the interstellar gulfs.
hundred million years to travel to the center of
We would have to know that intelligent beings
the Milky Way galaxy. The nearest stars, per-
were within our reach, even it if was a long
haps, may be within our reach given enough
reach of several decades. Interesting planetary
time, say a century or two, but what about star-
systems that might, after careful study with
ship highways around the Milky Way, perhaps
state-of-the-art astronomical instruments, give
through black holes, at the hyperspace speeds
every indication of harboring life would not be
of Hollywood film fantasies? Forget it. That's as
enough to make a commitment to such a human
close to "never happen" as anyone can reason-
endeavor. From what we can imagine today, the
ably predict for the next few thousand years.
will to build and pilot starships would come
from ET life calling planet Earth. Instead of hav-
ing "ET phone home," one of ET's fellow crea-
Across the Light-Years
tures would phone earth over the light-years
and create a cosmic bond that would draw us
Why would humankind ever travel across the
starward.
light-years to other planetary systems? Even as-
suming that technology can solve the tremen-
dous problems of interstellar flight and that the
Interstellar Speed Limits
international community approves the expendi-
ture of huge resources, we still need a reason to
The year in which the extraterrestrial call is re-
go. Human curiosity or sense of adventure alone
ceived-if it ever is-will. in large part deter-
cannot justify such an immense human under-
mine how long it will take to build and launch
taking. Because they, the stars, are there is not
an interstellar expedition, and how far and how
the answer as it was for Mount Everest and the
fast such a starship can travel. The technological
mountaineers who conquered its summit. The
level in any given century beyond 2000, as well
human spirit has proved itself over and over
as the degree to which solar system resources
366
THE OMNI SPACE ALMANAC
are utilized, will be the key to attempting a voy-
interstellar space at 10 percent the speed of light
age to nearby stars. Whether the starship is
would double the speed and cut the journey
guided by artificial intelligence alone or wheth-
time in half.
er it is supplemented by star-bound people from
One fully robotized starship has already been
planet Earth-this does not matter much. The
worked out in amazing detail by the British In-
biggest factor is: When? If the cosmic call came
terplanetary Society, which published the semi-
in tomorrow, there would be some real prob-
nal work Project Daedalus in 1978.
lems in putting together an expedition in a few
decades. The decision might be to wait for an
advanced technology and make up the time in
Humankind's First Starship
flight.
Freeman Dyson tinkered with several star-
The project to design a practical starship, un-
ship designs during Project Orion and got one,
manned and controlled by advanced robotics,
on paper, to fly at 3 percent the speed of light-
began in 1972. The captain of the first starship
somewhat over 20 million miles (32 million ki-
design team on planet Earth was Dr. Alan Bond,
lometers) an hour. While this speed is 33 times
a propulsion engineer and former scientist at the
slower than the speed of light, it is 5,760 times
rocket division of Rolls Royce. It was Bond who
faster than Apollo's average round-trip speed to
suggested in that year that members of the Brit-
the moon. It would take such a "slow" starship
ish Interplanetary Society form a working group
about 130 years to make a one-way trip to the
and do a detailed feasibility study of a one-way,
nearby Alpha Centauri system. At 10 percent
unmanned starship that would fly by Barnard's
the speed of light, it would take about 43 years;
Star, which is some 5.9 light-years from our sun
and at 40 percent, about 11 years to travel the
and solar system. The members enthusiastically
4.3 light-years-one way. Any consideration of
supported the concept, and it was decided to
speeds beyond 40 percent the speed of light is
proceed in January 1973-the same year that
taking freewheeling speculation into the twi-
the United States launched Skylab, its first
light zone, which was already visited in Chapter
space station.
7 with reference to the photon rocket.
For a spaceship to get 25 light-years out from
Propulsion. The design was based on state-of-
earth at 10 percent the speed of light, the one-
the-art, available technology, and the group de-
way travel time jumps to 250 years. It quickly
cided to use the nuclear pulse rocket as their
becomes clear that at 10 percent the speed of
propulsion concept. The engine would expel
light (more than 66 million miles, 106 million
small spheres of frozen deuterium and helium-
kilometers, per hour), almost all. interstellar
3, about half the size of a Ping-Pong ball, which
travel becomes a journey of several human gen-
would then be exploded by electron beams be-
erations-whether we actually fly the starships
hind the ship. These spheres would explode at
or send sophisticated robots and wait for the in-
the amazing rate of 250 each second, each one
formation to return to earth. If the extremely
releasing energy equal to about 90 tons of TNT.
long cosmic odds were with us, of course, and
The grand total of energy released each second
the ET life with which we made contact was on
would therefore equal 22,500 tons of TNT. The
a similar technological level of spacefaring
expanding gases from these explosions would
skills, then perhaps we could exchange cultures
eventually propel the starship to a top velocity
at some midway point by sending cosmic arks,
of about 13 percent the speed of light, some 86
interstellar cultural exhibits, that could have liv-
million miles (138 million kilometers) per hour,
ing crews or sophisticated artificial intelligence
which would fly it past Barnard's Star about fif-
to run the missions and conduct the diplomacy.
ty years after launch.
Two galactic civilizations traveling toward a
The Daedalus starship would use some
common island (star or navigational point) of
30,000 tons of helium-3 and 20,000 tons of deu-
EXTRATERRESTRIALS & STAR TRIPS 367
d of light
terium to fuel its nuclear pulse engine. But be-
way to its destination star at 12.8 percent the
journey
cause helium-3 is almost nonexistent on earth, it
speed of light-almost 86 million miles (138
would have to be extracted from Jupiter's atmo-
million kilometers) an hour!
dy been
sphere, which is perhaps one of the most diffi-
itish In-
cult logistical features of the Daedalus project. A
Star
Ahoy Some fifty years after launch from
he semi-
base on one of Jupiter's moons such as Callisto
our solar system, this first starship conceived by
or a large orbiting space station would have to
earthlings would release an armada of seven-
be established for the helium-3 mining opera-
teen targeted scientific probes of all sizes and
tions. Alan Bond did suggest an alternative way
containing different sensors as the sophisticated
of obtaining the helium-3: artificially breed it on
artificial intelligence center came alive in the
the surface of the moon. This too has its prob-
mother ship and used all of its computing pow-
ip, un-
lems; the waste heat generated by the breeding
er, which had remained dormant during the
obotics,
process would be equal to the world's energy
journey. Each probe would transmit its informa-
tarship
consumption, at today's rate, for some seven
tion back to the starship for relay to earth. The
1 Bond,
hundred years.
data stream for a single image frame would take
at the
some three and a half hours to transmit, and the
d who
Size and Weight. After several design revi-
data for as many as one thousand images could
ie Brit-
sions, the unmanned starship had an on-paper
be stored on the starship.
group
launch mass of 104.8 million pounds (47.5 mil-
Perhaps for the first time in human history,
e-way,
lion kilograms). Its combined two stages and
close-ups of another star's planets, some of
nard's
payload were to have a total length of some 650
them actually showing surface features, would
ur sun
feet (200 meters) and a total weight of 68,000
be seen after the data-bit signals traveled for an-
tically
tons, including fuel, with a modest 400 tons
led to
other 5.9 years at the speed of light back to plan-
(about equal to the total weight of five Skylab
et Earth.
r that
space stations) devoted to the payload star
first
probes that would be activated during the flyby
of Barnard's Star. The primary engine reaction
Interstellar Ports of Call
chamber was designed to be 330 feet (100 me-
te-of-
ters) in diameter, but very thin, like a huge
While Barnard's Star is not as close to our solar
p de-
foil dish.
system as is the Alpha Centauri system (5.9
their
light-years versus 4.3 light-years), it was chosen
expel
Thrust and Rocket Stages. Each small fuel
by the British Interplanetary Society study
ium-
sphere would be injected by a magnetic piston
group as the target star for the unmanned Dae-
hich
at about 27,000 miles (43,000 kilometers) per
S be-
dalus starship. It is easy to forget, when tossing
hour into the combustion chamber, where it
around light-years as if they were miles or kilo-
de at
would be bombarded by high-energy electron
meters, how much farther Barnard's Star is than
one
beams and exploded, creating a magnetic spring
NT.
Alpha Centauri: the 1.6 extra light-years are
reaction in the magnetic field to give the star-
equal to forty million times the earth-moon dis-
:ond
ship constant acceleration.
tance of about 240,000 miles (386,000 kilome-
The
Some eight and a third months after launch
ters). The Daedalus study team believed that if
buld
from an orbit around either Jupiter or the moon,
they designed their unmanned starship to travel
city
two of the first-stage fuel tanks would separate,
the almost six light-years to Barnard's Star, their
86
and the other four would separate during the
design work would be more adaptable to other
our,
first two years of the mission, at which time the
fif-
interstellar journeys and could probably make
entire first stage would fall away and the second
journeys out to about nine light-years from our
stage would ignite. The second stage would
solar system. This would include the closer Al-
me
burn for 1.76 years, at which time it would cease
pha Centauri duo as well as stars such as Luyten
eu-
firing and the probe would coast the rest of the
726-8
A/B,
Wolf 359, and Lalande 21185.
368 THE OMNI SPACE ALMANAC
Barnard's Star, named for astronomer Edward
tion
Emerson Barnard, who discovered it in 1916, is
Star Search
desig
a faint red dwarf, which has the fastest motion
weig!
across the sky of any star. It is, in fact, moving
As other sophisticated astronomical instru-
space
toward the sun and solar system at about 24,000
ments follow the Hubble Space Telescope into
lar sy
miles (39,000 kilometers) an hour. Over the next
orbit above the earth in the next few decades,
estab
ten thousand years, it will have moved some
the ranking of neighboring stars as targets for
vanc
two light-years closer to earth and will replace
interstellar voyages will change. It is, neverthe-
navi{
the Alpha Centauri system as the closest star to
less, all but certain that the destination star for
to Ep
earth. If the first starship is launched in the next
the first starship voyage will be among the list
abou
two centuries, however, this star's motion to-
that was published by the British Interplanetary
tent}
ward the sun will not in any way lessen the tre-
Society in 1978 as part of their Project Daedalus.
ity in
mendous challenge of designing, building, and
Even though Barnard's Star was chosen for the
Why
launching it.
study, it had a ranking of third on the target star
worl
Another reason that Barnard's Star holds such
list. The group considered it important to design
forc
interest as a target star for an interstellar voyage
their robot starship for the extra distance. The
cate
is that several studies, in particular Peter Van de
star list, by distance from the sun, is shown be-
is t}
Kamp's work at Sproul Observatory, have
low. One of the three stars, Proxima Centauri, in
whe
strongly indicated that this red dwarf has plane-
the Alpha Centauri system, is listed separately
mar
tary companions orbiting it. The Hubble Space
because it is separated from the Alpha Centauri
T
Telescope will study this and other neighboring
A/B by some 930 billion miles (1.5 trillion kilo-
star
stars and accumulate definite observational evi-
meters)-almost fifty-eight light-days.
any
dence of planetary systems around them. Any
The rankings of these nearby stars were de-
ty-f
one of several stars could eventually replace
termined by considering many factors, includ-
aro
Barnard's Star as the destination sun for human-
ing the type of star, its temperature and life
vat
kind's first interstellar voyage.
span, and the probability of planetary systems
ins
and the evolution of life forms on the planets.
ciei
All known stars up to a distance of 10.7 light-
ma
Project Daedalus Star
years (Epsilon Eridani) were included, and the
sity
Ranking
three stars beyond that distance were similar in
the
type to our Sun or had a high ranking. One of
dis
Star
Distance (1.-y.)
Rank
these thirteen stars will probably be scrutinized
to
in the next few centuries by the far-flung tech-
ma
Proxima
4.25
6
nological neophytes Homo sapiens.
far
Alpha Centauri A/B
4.3
1
sh
Barnard's Star
5.9
3
th
Wolf 359
7.6
8
Peopled or Roboted Starships?
CO
Lalande 21185
8.1
11
th
Sirius A/B
8.6
10
One of the more attractive destination stars de-
lig
fined by the Daedalus study is Epsilon Eridani, a
m
Luyten 726-8 A/B
8.9
7
sunlike star some 10.7 light-years away. Assum-
Ross 154
9.4
12
ing that the next few decades of advanced in-
un
Ross 248
10.3
13
space telescopes tell us that this star has the
b
Epsilon Eridani
10.7
4
most earthlike planets around it, will we send a
sl
61 Cygni A/B
11.2
2
robotized starship toward it or a space ark with a
C
11.2
9
human crew? In this hypothetical instance,
b
Epsilon Indi
Tau Ceti
11.9
5
when there is actually no extraterrestrial com-
it
munication taking place, either a new genera-
to
EXTRATERRESTRIALS & STAR TRIPS
369
tion of in-space sensing technology would be
than a trained human crew. Still, at only 10 per-
designed and built or a robotized starship would
cent the speed of light, the travel time to and
weigh anchor and head toward interstellar
nstru-
information return from Epsilon Eridani would
e into
space. A peopled space ark would depart the so-
be some two hundred years-about the time it
cades,
lar system only if ET communications had been
took two industrial nations to acquire the rudi-
its for
established, and even then a starship with ad-
mentary means of leaving their cradle, planet
erthe-
vanced artificial intelligence might be chosen to
Earth.
ar for
navigate the interstellar gulf. Why send people
Without an ET message in hand, it is doubtful
le list
to Epsilon Eridani, after all, when it would take
that a peopled starship will ever fly and deliver
etary
about 110 years to make a one-way trip at one-
its crew or their descendants to a new world or-
dalus.
tenth the speed of light, a technological possibil-
biting a distant star. Our answer may be: Let us
or the
ity in the next century? This is the big question:
let the robots take those interstellar risks.
t star
Why send people to do an advanced robot's
esign
work? Eye-to-eye contact may be a positive
The
force here on earth, but if the ETs we communi-
An ET Message to Earth
a be-
cate with have no eyes as we define them, what
ri, in
is the point of a creature-to-creature meeting
If our sophisticated, computer signal analyzers
ately
when computer enhanced data will create as
do make contact with extraterrestrial intelli-
tauri
many detailed images as we care to see?
gence, the response could eventually be a space
kilo-
There are alternatives to physically sending a
ark filled with earth people and their fellow
starship, peopled or not, to Epsilon Eridani or
creatures. Such a response, however, would
de-
any other star that proves attractive in the twen-
take several decades if such ET contact were
lud-
ty-first century. If it is only habitable planets
made in the year 2019, and it would be the most
life
around another nearby star that create the moti-
improbable response.
vation, advanced above-earth or above-moon
ems
After confirmation of the initial contact (an
nets.
instruments may satisfy our curiosity and suffi-
exacting, scientific procedure that could take
ght-
ciently increase our knowledge. A so-called ulti-
weeks), communication with the ET intelligence
the
mate telescope, proposed by Princeton Univer-
could be initiated through a transmission pro-
IT in
sity physicist Eric Hannah, could in theory use
gram and then dramatically increased over the
e of
the entire sun as a gravitational lens to focus a
next few years. Or earth could decide not to re-
zed
distant star's image on a large, flat array of pho-
spond for some reason. If thorough analysis
ech-
todetectors in space. If ever built, such an ulti-
leads experts to the conclusion that there is no
mate telescope could amplify the light from a
danger in responding to the message, transmis-
faraway star two hundred billionfold. It could
sion will begin. The data stream from earth
show detail one hundred million times finer
would include whatever information is both sci-
than the Hubble Space Telescope can, and it
entifically valid and internationally approved
could even show features the size of houses on
and screened for transmission by a multination-
the planets that orbit Barnard's Star almost six
al forum such as the United Nations.
de-
light-years (36 million million miles, 58 million
i, a
Our ability to understand and interpret the
million kilometers) away.
first extraterrestrial message will in large part
m-
The more ambitious plan would be to send an
in-
determine earth's response. And assuming that
unmanned Daedalus-like (Daedalus in Greek,
the
such an analysis is fruitful, then the location and
by the way, means "cunningly wrought") star-
d a
distance from earth of the ET intelligence is also
ship to explore súch a planetary system, which
ha
tremendously important. If the signal comes
could harbor evolving life forms that had not
from a planet near a star one hundred light-
ce,
become spacefaring, interstellar-communicat-
years away, humankind's answer in the next
m-
ing species. An advanced on-board artificial in-
century will be limited to radio or other electro-
ra-
telligence could probably do as much or more
magnetic radiation traveling at the speed of
370
THE OMNI SPACE ALMANAC
light-the speed limit of the universe. If, how-
have anything to do with us; they may consider
bots
ever, an intelligent signal comes from a star such
us too low on the evolutionary spiral to bother
selve
as Epsilon Eridani (10.7 light-years from the
with. If such galactic life receives a DNA mes-
be fu
sun), then an entire range of responses from
sage from us several decades after it was trans-
intell
earth may be possible in the next few hundred
mitted from earth, they may accurately predict
large
years: radio contact only; radio silence or cen-
on the basis of analysis that we no longer ex-
terst
sorship (if the contact message implies malevo-
ist-just another of the millions of galactic spe-
crew
lence); launching a roboted starship; or launch-
cies that die out each year.
focu:
ing a peopled space ark.
Broadcasting humanity's seeds indiscrimi-
vous
nately throughout the Milky Way galaxy does
by a
Radio contact. Radio contact with ET intelli-
have its own risks, however. Some would argue
ters)
gence is astronomically more probable than
that we would be forsaking our long evolution-
turn
physical contact. If the ET civilization is any
ary heritage by almost nonchalantly giving
gala
more than twenty light-years from earth (the
away the secrets of our species. How do we
fill L
distance many experts believe to be the limit of
know that some evil ET alien would not recreate
inte:
possible exploration), it is doubtful that a star-
us and commit atrocities against our fellow crea-
ship will be launched to such a faraway celestial
tures? We must practice caution in deciding
A P
island because a one-way journey would take
what we broadcast into the universe. Perhaps
Brit
about two hundred years at 10 percent the
our application for membership in the galactic
Wor
speed of light. But with various wavelengths of
club has already been turned down on the basis
quo
the electromagnetic spectrum, humankind can
of ET life having heard some of our earlier radio
Fre
communicate a tremendous amount of informa-
broadcasts, such as 1'I Love Lucy" or "The
ple
tion at the speed of light and can do so over a
Shadow," that were not intended for ET ears.
into
distance of a few hundred light-years in fewer
ger
than a dozen human generations, which repre-
Radio Silence and Censorship. An immediate
ing
sents a short period of time when compared to
transmission after receiving a radio message
des
the sixty-six thousand human generations that
from ET life could turn out to be a grave error.
wil
took us from the trees of the jungle to the sur-
Painstaking analysis should be completed, and
spa
face of the moon.
a profile of the ET life should be projected based
pe
That we or other galactic civilizations can
on its message. Planet Earth's and our species'
spa
send our messages via electromagnetic waves at
survival could be at stake. Scientists as well as
the speed of light is luck of a cosmic order; but
dozens of science fiction writers have speculat-
WC
just as important as this is the fact that almost
ed on various outcomes of our species coming
sp
any kind of information can be sent in the mes-
into contact with malevolent aliens. Common
ag
sage-including the genetic codes of the human
themes include earthlings being made slaves,
sic
speciès and its fellow earth creatures, which
harvested as food, used as pets, or put in zoos.
tra
could be recreated by intelligent ETs some-
Even the theory that, unknown to us, the earth
tel
where in their solar systems far, far away. With
and humankind are part of an ET ZOO has been
ps
DNA technology going through a revolution,
proposed. Our zookeepers want to preserve our
ly
the time is near when complete instructions on
natural habitat, and, therefore, do not reveal
O
how to build a human being could be sent at the
themselves.
in
speed of light to intelligent creatures among the
in
distance stars. In this way, the cybernetic seed of
A Robotized Starship. The Daedalus project, as
lic
humankind could be broadcast throughout the
already summarized, was the first detailed feasi-
W
galaxy. If advanced life forms on distant worlds
bility study of the design of a starship and an
al
catch our molecular DNA secrets, humankind
interstellar voyage. Because the life spans of ad-
C
could become a new species on those distant
vanced robots will be much longer than the nat-
al
planets. Of course, such ETs may not want to
ural lifespans of humans, and because future ro-
g
EXTRATERRESTRIALS & STAR TRIPS
371
y consider
bots will have the ability to reproduce them-
There is always that extraterrestrial rub: Why
to bother
selves, our first interstellar voyage probably will
travel to the stars? What would be humankind's
ONA mes-
be fully controlled by a high order of artificial
motivation? Beyond the survival of the species
was trans-
intelligence. Even Gerard O'Neill's concepts of
or a physical encounter with extraterrestrial in-
ely predict
large colonies in space could be adapted to in-
telligence, such motivations are secrets held by
longer ex-
terstellar travel and populated with a robot
the future. Assuming for the moment that there
lactic spe-
crew. Such an extraterrestrial starship was the
is an important reason for earthlings to physi-
focus of Arthur C. Clarke's 1973 novel, Rendez-
cally meet ET intelligence at a distance of be-
ndiscrimi-
vous with Rama. In it, the solar system is visited
tween ten and twenty light-years and at a veloc-
laxy does
by a huge spaceship, some 31 miles (50 kilome-
ity of no more than 20 percent the speed of light,
uld argue
ters) long, populated by biological robots. It
what are the alternatives to a voyage requiring
evolution-
turns out that this spaceship from a mysterious
several human generations? A deep and almost
ly giving
galactic civilization was only passing through to
dreamless sleep.
W do we
fill up with energy from our sun. They were not
it recreate
interested in earth or its creatures.
low crea-
As the Silent Stars Go By
deciding
A Peopled Space Ark. J. Desmond Bernal, the
Perhaps
British physicist, wrote his prophetic book The
An imaginative science fiction genre has often
e galactic
World, the Flesh and the Devil in 1929. Often
supplied a method of reaching the stars within a
the basis
quoted by such visionaries as Arthur C. Clarke,
human lifespan: Suspended animation has been
lier radio
Freeman Dyson, Gerard O'Neill, and Olaf Sta-
a way of slowing down human biological time
or "The
pledon, the book describes the expansion of life
to better match the cosmic time scale of inter-
ET ears.
into space and includes a space ark in which
stellar journeys. Some type of human hiberna-
generations of people live and die, never know-
tion, in which the human body and brain are
mediate
ing the earth from which they came, nor the
frozen in time, may become a real alternative in
message
destination planet on which their descendants
another one hundred or two hundred years for
ve error.
will land and live. In 1929, the concept of a
spacefarers journeying between the stars. A
ted, and
space ark seemed the only way of transporting
California research team has recently discov-
ed based
people across the vast distances of interstellar
ered, for example, that many organisms are able
species'
space and time.
to survive dehydration and exist in a dormant
; well as
The fact that several human generations
state by producing a sugar called trehalose. This
peculat-
would be required to journey at a fraction of the
and other such discoveries may eventually lead
coming
speed of light from star to star was not encour-
to safe techniques that will suspend human bio-
Common
aging. This is why space arks are usually envi-
logical processes over long periods of time.
slaves,
sioned as large vessels able to accommodate at-
In the film Alien, the crew members were
in zoos.
tractive earthlike environments to keep the in-
held in suspended animation while their space-
he earth
terstellar void at bay and out of the spacefarers'
ship crossed the light-years. Although artificial
as been
psyches. But the size of the space ark was direct-
hibernation or hypothermia for the human body
erve our
ly interrelated to its propulsion and speed. If an
is beyond present capabilities, human embryos
t reveal
O'Neill-type space colony were adapted to an
have been frozen, thawed, implanted in the fe-
interstellar ark and left the solar system travel-
male uterus, and brought to a successful birth. It
ing at 1 percent the speed of light (about 6.7 mil-
is conceivable that a nursery of frozen human
oject, as
lion miles, 10.8 million kilometers, per hour), it
life forms, shielded from radiation at the center
d feasi-
would take more than 13 human generations-
of a starship (let us name it Earthark) could sur-
and an
about 430 years-to reach the nearby Alpha
vive an interstellar journey of hundreds or thou-
S of ad-
Centauri star system. Would such a long voyage
sands of years, and then complete their gesta-
the nat-
attract enough volunteers? Who would want to
tion and formative years under the guidance of
ture ro-
go and why?
programmed robot nannies before reaching
372
THE OMNI SPACE ALMANAC
their destination star and planetary system, in
If our descendants board the starships and set
which they will meet the ET life or colonize a
sail on the interstellar oceans, they will proba-
habitable planet.
bly choose, at some early point in the journey.
If we can suspend the human biological clock
to chemically suspend their lives in time with
The
in some way, and at the same time cut down tre-
future life-suspension techniques. Perhaps
Pub
mendously on on-board consumables, physical
these deep-sleeping adults will be accompanied
info
travel to the stars becomes more realistic. If this
by an embryonic nursery of frozen fertilized
cannot be done, be it with the embryonic hu-
eggs from various earth species on this first
AC
man seeds ready for gestation or fully grown
great voyage-an ark from planet Earth. As
earthlings ready for the challenges of new
they fly to the stars, suspended in a deep and
Hea
worlds, then a one-hundred member crew on
dreamless sleep, their robot friends will stand
board the starship Earthark would need the fol-
Am
watch and tend to them during the cosmic jour-
S
lowing consumables for a twenty-year journey:
ney spanning decades. For these star-bound hu-
621
mans, this will be a dreamless road to the stars,
Spri
Water: 7.9 million pounds (3.6 million kilo-
but a road built by the persistent dreams of hu-
(703
grams)
mankind over thousands of years. Images of
Am
Food: 3.3 million pounds (1.5 million kilo-
new and distant worlds may lie dormant during
grams)
this cosmic slumber, but in essence they are
what power this starship into the future. Such
163
Oxygen: 1.1 million pounds (0.5 million kilo-
images will form again when the cosmic sleep-
Ne
grams)
ers awaken to complete their lives and explore
(21
new worlds.
L-5
These three life-sustaining consumables add up
Is any of this possible? Will this happen to our
10
to some 12.3 million pounds (5.6 million kilo-
descendants born on planet Earth? Will they be-
Tu
grams), a total weight that would greatly influ-
come true extraterrestrials journeying from star
(6(
ence the starship's size, propulsion design, and
to star? Human dreams tell us yes, this is the dis-
flight time to the stars.
tant future of the Space Age.
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The
Book
QUOTES
Barbara Rowes
"
BALLANTINE BOOKS NEW YORK
SPACE 51
That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
-Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon,
July 20, 1969
This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the Cre-
ation.
-Richard Nixon, July 20, 1969
We're Number One on the runway.
-Neil Armstrong, preparing to take off from the moon to return
to earth
Good-by, good night. Merry Christmas. God bless all of you, all of
you on the good earth.
-Frank Borman, Christmas Eve telecast from Apollo VIII, De-
cember 24, 1968
I'm the link between Ham the Space Chimp and Man.
-Alan Shepard, first American in space, after his May 5, 1961
flight
We're on top of the world. I'll tell you, you can't believe it
ut-
terly fantastic. The world is round.
-Charles (Pete) Conrad, from Gemini XI
I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have
seen four beautiful sunsets.
-John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, February 20,
1962
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. A magnificent desolation.
-Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon
There seems to be a lot of traffic up here. Call a policeman.
-Walter (Wally) Schirra, in Gemini VII while docking with
Gemini VI, August 1, 1969
Four days vacation with pay and see the world.
-James Lovell, commenting on his Gemini XII mission
52 SPACE
Sputnik doesn't worry me one iota. Apparently from what they say,
they have put one small ball in the air.
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1957
I have never believed that a spectacular dash to the moon, vastly
deepening our debt, is worth the added tax burden it will eventu-
ally impose upon our citizens.
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1963
There is just one thing I can promise you about the outer-space pro-
gram: Your tax dollar will go farther.
-Wernher von Braun
I can't understand what's holding up our missile program. It's the
first time the government ever had trouble making the taxpayer's
money go up in smoke.
-Bob Hope
This nation has tossed its cap over the wall of space, and we have
no choice but to follow it.
-John F. Kennedy
There is something more important than any ultimate weapon. That
is the ultimate position-the position of total control over Earth that
lies somewhere out in space.
-Lyndon Baines Johnson
For years, politicians have promised the moon. I'm the first one to
be able to deliver it.
-Richard Nixon
In the nuclear age, by the time a threat has become unambiguous it
may be too late to resist it.
-Henry Kissinger
The view of the moon is spectacular. Well worth the price.
-Neil Armstrong, from Apollo XI
Science cannot bear the thought that there is an important natural
phenomenon which it cannot hope to explain even with unlimited
time and money.
-Robert Jastrow
SPACE 53
This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the
decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him
safely to earth.
-John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961
According to information received from Cape Canaveral, a rocket
with a man on board was launched. After fifteen minutes the cap-
sule with the pilot, Alan Shepard, fell in the Atlantic Ocean.
-Soviet news release of the first United States manned flight
The Roman Empire controlled the world because it could build
roads
The British Empire was dominant because it had ships.
In the air age, we were powerful because we had airplanes. Now
the Communists have established a foothold in outer space. It is not
very reassuring to be told that next year we will put a better satellite
into the air. Perhaps it will even have chrome trim and automatic
windshield wipers.
-Lyndon Baines Johnson
What we will have attained when Neil Armstrong steps down upon
the moon is a completely new step in the evolution of man.
-Wernher von Braun
One of our problems is trying to figure out which way is up and
which way is down.
-John Young, from Apollo X
Boy, this is beautiful. Boy oh boy. It looks that pretty. Boy oh boy.
-Gordon Cooper, the first astronaut to orbit in space, Mercury-
Atlas IX
Let them eat moon-shots!
-Isaac Asimov, updating Marie Antoinette
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the
earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted
out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
-Neil Armstrong, on the Apollo XI return trip
The only way to define the limits of the possible is by going beyond
them into the impossible.
-Arthur C. Clarke
54 SPACE
No. No. I won't go! You can't make me!
-Gordon Cooper, showing newsmen what astronauts go
through before entering the capsule
I was a rotten S.O.B. before I left. Now I'm just an S.O.B.
-Alan Shepard, after becoming America's first astronaut
There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to
brighten it everywhere.
-Isaac Asimov
The moon is a different thing to each one of us. It looks like a vast,
lonely, forbidding place, an expanse of nothing.
-Frank Borman, from Apollo VIII while orbiting the moon
The great tragedy of Science-the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis
by an ugly fact.
-Aldous Huxley
If we die, we want people to accept it. We are in a risky business,
and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the
program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life.
-Virgil (Gus) Grissom, astronaut killed in action on January 27,
1967
I'm like an orchestra conductor. I don't write the music, I just make
sure it comes out right.
-Christopher Kraft, flight operation director of the Apollo mis-
sions
This has been far more than three men on a voyage to the moon.
More even than the efforts of one nation
This stands as a sym-
bol of the insatiable curiosity of all mankind to explore the un-
known.
-Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin, from Apollo XI shortly before splash-
down
We are all on a spaceship and that spaceship is Earth. Four billion
passengers-and no skippers.
-Wernher von Braun
SPACE 55
I think Isaac Newton is doing most of the driving right now.
-William A. Anders, aboard Apollo VIII
I just don't think the moon is going to be an adequate substitute for
the fact that we haven't addressed ourselves to clearing up the
slums.
-Kenneth B. Clark
Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am
doing.
-Wernher von Braun
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from
magic.
-Arthur C. Clarke
May the Force be with you.
-Benediction of the good guys in the film Star. Wars
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
-Carl Sagan
Ref.
PN6081
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Respectfully
Quoted
A Dictionary of Quotations
Requested from the
Congressional Research Service
edited by Suzy Platt
Congressional Reference Division
PROPERTY OF
LIBRARY
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF
THE PRESIDENT
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS . WASHINGTON 1989
Space exploration
1742 To see the earth as we now see it, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal
silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that
bright loveliness in the unending night-brothers who see now they are truly brothers.
ARCHIBALD MACLEISH, "Bubble of Blue Air," Riders on the Earth; Essays and Recol-
lections by Archibald MacLeish, epigraph, p. xiv (1978).
This was written by MacLeish for The New York Times "after the Appollo mission
of 1968 returned from space with a photograph of what earth looked like as seen from
beyond the moon: the photograph which gave mankind its first understanding of its actual
situation; riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the unending
night-brothers who see now they are truly brothers" (p. ix).
The article has slightly different wording and reads as follows: "To see the earth as
it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see
ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal
cold-brothers who know now they are truly brothers."-The New York Times, December
25, 1968, p. 1.
1743 Some say God is living there [in space]. I was looking around very attentively, but I
did not see anyone there. I did not detect either angels or gods.
I don't believe in God.
I believe in man-his strength, his possibilities, his reason.
GHERMAN TITOV, Soviet cosmonaut, comments at world's fair, Seattle, Washington,
May 6, 1962, as reported by The Seattle Daily Times, May 7, 1962, p. 2.
1744 Yet I do seriously and on good grounds affirm it possible to make a flying chariot in
which a man may sit and give such a motion unto it as shall convey him through the air. And
this perhaps might be made large enough to carry divers men at the same time, together
with food for their viaticum and commodities for traffic. It is not the bigness of anything in
this kind that can hinder its motion, if the motive faculty be answerable thereunto. We see a
great ship swims as well as a small cork, and an eagle flies in the air as well as a little gnat.
"Tis likely enough that there may be means invented of journeying to the moon; and
how happy they shall be that are first successful in this attempt.
JOHN WILKINS, A Discourse Concerning a New World and Another Planet, book 1,
chapter 14, pp. 238-39 (1640). Spelling modernized.
Speaking out
1745 Try to raise a voice that shall be heard from here to Albany and watch what it is that
comes forward to shut off the sound. It is not a German sergeant, nor a Russian officer of
the precinct. It is a note from a friend of your father's offering you a place in his office. This
is your warning from the secret police. Why, if any of you young gentlemen have a mind to
get heard a mile off, you must make a bonfire of your reputation, and a close enemy of most
men who wish you well.
And what will you get in return? Well, if I must for the benefit of the economists,
charge you up with some selfish gain, I will say that you get the satisfaction of having been
heard, and that this is the whole possible scope of human ambition.
JOHN JAY CHAPMAN, "The Unity of Human Nature," address delivered before the
Hobart Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, Hobart College, Geneva, New York, on commencement
day, June 20, 1900.-Chapman, Learning and Other Essays, p. 185 (1910, reprinted 1968).
1746 Laws can embody standards; governments can enforce laws-but the final task is
not a task for government. It is a task for each and every one of us. Every time we turn our
328
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rirst rioor Ganeries
the present; rocket engines and space suits
100 Milestones of Flight: from the Wright brothers' Flyer and the Spirit of St.
114 Space Hall: space launch vehicles, manned spacecraft such as the
Louis to Apollo 11 and the Viking Lander
Skylab Orbital Workshop, Apollo-Soyuz and Space Shuttle
101 Museum Shop
115 Theater: large-screen motion picture presentations
102 Air Transportation: air transportation of people, mail and cargo
103 Vertical Flight: helicopters, autogiros and special vehicles
Second Floor Galleries
104 Special Aircraft Exhibits: rotating exhibition of recently-restored aircraft
201 Albert Einstein Planetarium: multi-media presentations
105 Golden Age of Flight: history of aviation between the two world wars
203 Sea-Air Operations: a history of flight over water, featuring naval aircraft
(1919-1939)
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106 Jet Aviation: traces the evolution of military and commercial jet aircraft
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107 Early Flight: a 1913 indoor air show
206
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207 Exploring the Planets: a look at the planets, the tools of exploration and
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Cosmic View"
208
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109 Flight Testing: the history of flight research-research aircraft, flight
blacks in aviation
testing and ground testing
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110 Looking at Earth: Practical uses of aerial photography-from early kite
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210 Apollo to the Moon: the triumph of manned space flight, from project
Mercury through the moon landings of the Apollo program
111 Stars: a tour of the known universe-from ancient times to the present
211 Flight and the Arts: works by leading artists that encompass the theme of
112 Lunar Exploration Vehicles: the Apollo Lunar Module, Lunar Orbiter,
flight
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213 Beyond the Limits: Flight Enters the Computer Age: how computers have
113 Rocketry and Space Flight: history of flight from the thirteenth century to
revolutionized the aerospace industry
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An average of 9 million people
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U.S. Presidents
and
Astronomical Discovery
by Robert A. Brown
and Jeanette C. Ishee
Towering genius disdains a beaten path.
It seeks regions hitherto unexplored.
Abraham Lincoln (1838)
Cover: Thomas Jefferson's architectural drawing of an observatory tower for Montalto. Ink and wash, C. 1771.
Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society
U.S. Presidents and
Astronomical Discovery
by Robert A. Brown
and Jeanette C. Isbee
This essay examines the intersection of three spheres of American thought: scientific ex-
ploration, "frontier" concepts, and public policy. It is a story of ideas, not a history of
science. Here, presidents voice policy and speak for America. Astronomy is the focus
because it is today both the least applied and most exploratory science. Also, astronomy
is ancient, and both the nature of astronomical inquiry and the public policy challenge it
poses have remained remarkably unchanged from the founding of the Republic to the
present day. Finally, the object of this study is insight-in the same realm of ideas-that
may be useful in conducting the federal science program, astronomy in particular.
rom its earliest history, America has placed supreme value on exploration and discov-
F
ery as the embodiment, the purest expression, and the due consequence of freedom.
This concept has been fundamental in defining the individual and collective person-
alities of Americans. The U.S. presidents, in turn, have been the important national
caretakers of the idea. From George Washington to George Bush, the presidents have
sought federal support to open various wildernesses for American pioneers in pursuit of expand-
ing geographical, technological, and intellectual frontiers. By variously asserting and promoting
the diverse benefits of freedom manifested in exploration, they have inspired and supported voy-
ages into the unknown, beginning with the American exploration of the West. Today, space and
the realm of science are the most prominent objects of exploration being pursued with public
funds.
Each frontier has distinctive challenges and rewards, and every president has interpreted the
exploratory needs of America in terms of his perception of those opportunities. The frontier of
astronomy in particular has held the imagination of presidents from the youngest days of the Re-
public. Early presidents connected the importance of astronomical exploration and discovery vari-
ously with teleological speculation, national prestige, and the centrality of learning to a successful
democracy. (And, of course, astronomy has had practical applications for geography and deter-
mining civil time, which we will not consider here.) In the most recent four decades, the presidents
have viewed astronomy as a distinctive discipline entwined with federal science as a whole.
Government sponsorship of astronomy as an open research discipline is a recent experiment in
public policy, covering a period somewhat less than one-fifth of our Republic's age. As a policy
experiment, it bears evaluation. This essay tracks the course of presidential ideas about astronomi-
cal exploration and federal support for it from the American Revolution to the present day. It shows
how presidential support has helped to frame today's billion dollar per year national astronomy
program through an oft-asserted historical analogy between our current conduct of science re-
search and America's 19th century expansion west-an analogy based primarily on the idea of
exploration. We will argue that, to ensure American society's return from the metaphorical frontier
of astronomy, and to re-validate the analogy that sustains its special place in the American experi-
ence, new programs for education are needed within the existing federal astronomy program.
2
Early
The American fascination with astronomical exploration and the U.S. presidents'
Presidential
role in promoting it can be traced to the origins of the American attitude toward
Interest in
government itself. This attitude originated in the ideas of the Enlightenment,
Astronomy
which themselves had been greatly influenced by earlier developments in
astronomy. The Copernican Revolution, Kepler's laws, and Newton's law of gravity had resolved
an ancient debate on planetary motion and replaced the view of a hierarchical universe with one
explained by free particles equal under the laws of nature moving according to a balance of forces.
In the 18th century, this scientific triumph resonated with an analogous view of human nature and
the role of government and civil law. The Founding Fathers saw a link between an understanding
of the natural world and the moral improvement of mankind through new and more rational forms
of government.
The Founding Fathers were knowledgeable of, took a personal interest in, and, in some cases,
practiced astronomy. As a surveyor, George Washington was competent in making accurate astro-
nomical readings and understood the practical benefits of the science both personally and for the
fledgling democracy. While in England, John Adams visited Herschel at the Royal Observatory at
Windsor Castle. His journals reveal intense curiosity about the possibility of life on other planets
and wonder at the harmony of the solar system and what he termed its "stupendous plan of opera-
tion."¹ Thomas Jefferson once confessed in a personal letter that he felt Nature had intended him
"for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight. [It is] the enormities of
the times in which I have lived," he wrote, that "have forced me to take a part in resisting them, and
to commit myself on the boisterous ocean of political passions."2 Nonetheless, he still managed to
make frequent astronomical observations, and insisted that Lewis and Clark do so as well on their
expedition to the Pacific. Later in his life, Jefferson planned an observatory for his beloved Central
College (soon the University of Virginia), and designed the dome room of the Rotunda there as a
teaching planetarium, complete with movable stars and a carefully-engineered elevated chair from
which an astronomy professor could lecture while manipulating the planets. Presidents James
Monroe, James Madison, and John Quincy Adams all argued forcefully in Congress and elsewhere
for the establishment of a national observatory.
Indeed, no one has allied astronomy with American ideas more than John Quincy Adams. "The
express purpose of an observatory," he wrote, "is the increase of knowledge by new discovery."3
Such new knowledge, he felt, spurred "progress in the march of the human mind."⁴ His first annual
address to the nation as president was a manifesto for federal investment to improve and stimulate
America. The concept of a national observatory-a "lighthouse of the skies"-was prominent
among his proposals:
It is with no feeling of pride, as an American, that the remark may be made that, on the compara-
tively small territorial surface of Europe, there are existing upward of one hundred and thirty of
these light-houses of the skies; while throughout the whole American hemisphere there is not
one. If we reflect a moment upon the discoveries which, in the last four centuries, have been
made in the physical constitution of the universe by the means of these buildings, and of observ-
ers stationed in them, shall we doubt of their usefulness to every nation? And while scarcely a
year passes over our heads without bringing some new astronomical discovery to light, which
we must fain receive at second-hand from Europe, are we not cutting ourselves off from the
means of returning light for light, while we have neither observatory nor observer upon our half
of the globe, and the earth revolves in perpetual darkness to our unsearching eyes?⁵
3
As U.S. president, as overseer and benefactor of Harvard University, as "The Old Man Eloquent" in
the Congress, and as a tireless public speaker, John Quincy Adams sought to turn "the science of
astronomy into a permanent and perservering national pursuit, which may extend the bounds of
human knowledge and make my country instrumental in elevating the character and improving
the conditions of man on earth."6
Early
The interest in astronomy evinced by early American leaders indicates their ap-
Presidential
preciation for the vast importance of learning to the welfare and dynamism of the
Valuation
nation. This belief in the value of learning, exemplified by the acquisition and
of New
diffusion of new astronomical knowledge, was reflected in the efforts of each of
Knowledge
the first six presidents to promote knowledge and understanding as the very ba-
sis of democratic decisionmaking. "Knowledge," said Washington, "is in every country the surest
basis of public happiness. In one in which the measures of Government receive their impression SO
immediately from the sense of the Community as in ours it is proportionably essential. John
Adams claimed it was "the duty of legislators and magistrates, in all future periods of this Common-
wealth, to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them."⁸ Jefferson
declared that "knowledge is power knowledge is safety, and knowledge is happiness,"⁹ and
Madison believed that "a diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty. "10 Monroe was
a proponent of formal education and, while Governor of Virginia, argued that "in a government
founded on the sovereignty of the people knowledge should be diffused throughout the whole
society, and for that purpose the means of acquiring it made not only practicable, but easy to every
citizen."¹¹ Later, he joined Jefferson and Madison in planning the University of Virginia, and served
as a member of its first Board of Visitors. In a report to Congress in which he lobbied for Congres-
sional acceptance of the Smithson bequest, John Quincy Adams wrote:
The attainment of knowledge is the high and exclusive attribute of man, among the number-
less myriads of animated beings, inhabitants of the terrestrial globe It is by this attribute that
man discovers his own nature as the link between earth and heaven; as the partaker of an im-
mortal spirit; as created for a higher and more durable end To furnish the means of acquiring
knowledge is therefore the greatest benefit that can be conferred upon mankind.¹²
Clearly, the early presidents saw learning and new knowledge as keys to the future.
Early Public
The first presidents' unanimity of outlook on learning was countered, though,
Policy
by their differing philosophies on the federal government's role in supporting it.
Context of
Early efforts to promote "internal improvements," i.e., the establishment of a
Astronomical
national university, a national observatory, and a national transportation infra-
Exploration
structure, proceeded only fitfully in early administrations, and were finally ex-
tinguished in the administration of the seventh president, Andrew Jackson. Resentment of the
growing political and economic disparity between the diverse regions of the young nation surfaced
repeatedly in the debate over the issue of internal improvements. The disagreement centered on
the correctness of the federal government's use of public funds to finance improvements that might
result in economic benefit to one state over another or increase the authority of the national gov-
ernment over the states.
Since the earliest days of the nation, the Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, had argued for
a strong central government, and sought broad authority to finance large federal programs of inter-
4
nal improvement. Such improvements, they believed, would play an important role in preserving
the union of the states and in promoting commerce and trade. For example, they proposed, but
failed to enact, a broad federal system of roads and canals.
The Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson, supported many of the philosophical goals of those
who sought funding for internal improvements, but staunchly rejected the additional implied au-
thority of the federal government over the states. They therefore insisted that internal improve-
ments by the federal government first be mandated by a Constitutional amendment-despite the
general agreement that such an amendment was not likely to garner the necessary approval of the
states.
Andrew Jackson's campaign against federal involvement in internal improvements included
denying funding for a national road and dissolving the Second National Bank of the United States.
His opposition to such involvements was firm. In his first year in office he told Congress: "This was
intended to be a government of limited and specific, and not general, powers and it is our duty to
preserve for it the character intended by its framers.' The next year, he reminded them "the suc-
cessful operation of the federal system can only be preserved by confining it to the few and simple,
but yet important, objects for which it was designed."14 By the end of his second term in office, the
issue of internal improvements was settled in favor of the so-called states' rights viewpoint, largely
through the diligence and aggressive political maneuverings of Jackson. Although specific conflicts
and pressures still arose, the broad issue itself ceased to dominate ensuing Congressional debates.¹ 15
After Jackson, federal funding of scientific research as pure exploration was in eclipse for more
than a century. Although various succeeding presidents showed interest in astronomy-including
Lincoln, Garfield, and Taft-none sought to promote pure astronomical research with federal
funds with anything matching the verve of the pre-Jackson presidents. This is not to say that appro-
priated funds were not used to support astronomical observations directed at practical purposes.
The U.S. Naval Observatory, for example, was built in 1844 to aid the coastal survey and improve
the distribution of civil time. An observatory was built at West Point, which trained officers of the
Corps of Topographical Engineers for land surveys of the West. But, until the 1950s, only private,
state, or local funds were used to build astronomical observatories for pure scientific research and
exploration akin to the vision of John Quincy Adams.
The President
A second direct effect of the power struggle that took place during the Jackson
as "Voice of
administration was the transformation that occurred in the public view of the
the People"
presidency. During the administrations of the first six presidents, the Executive
Branch had been viewed primarily as the agent of Congress: it was to execute the laws that the
Congress enacted. Jackson sought a stronger and more proactive role for the presidency and found
the means in the issue of internal improvements. Jackson appealed to a sense of fairness among the
masses when he vowed to represent the rights of all states in contrast to partisan political efforts in
Congress seeking favor for certain individual states or regions. He came to be viewed as spokes-
man for all citizens and thus to be, in effect, the "voice of the people." He inspired a popular emo-
tional reaction, which historian Leonard White describes as follows:
Masses of people believed he was their friend-the "monstrous crowd of people" that Webster
observed at the inauguration ceremonies on March 4, 1829, seemed really to think that the
country had been rescued from dreadful danger. When, eight years later, Jackson stood on the
rear platform of the railroad car on his way again to the Hermitage, no sound came from the
multitude that bade him farewell. Emotions were too deep for expression.¹⁸
5
The Jacksonian mystique deeply affected American attitudes towards the U.S. presidency. The
American public came to expect the president to be the representative of all the people and not
merely of a region or party. Abraham Lincoln thus remarked that "as the President in the adminis-
tration of the government, I hope to be man enough not to know one citizen of the United States
from another, nor one section from another."¹⁷ Theodore Roosevelt declared that "no man is fit to
hold the position of President of the United States at all unless as President he feels that he repre-
sents no party but the people as a whole. "18 And, as Harry Truman explained, "it is only the Presi-
dent who is responsible to all the people. He alone has no sectional, no occupational, no economic
ties. If anyone is to speak for the people, it has to be the President. The newly strengthened ties
of the president to the people aided Jackson and later presidents in their ability to influence and
often to command federal policy by voicing American ideas.
Science as
In the 1920s, Herbert Hoover reconnected the American ideas of exploration
an American
and discovery with pure scientific research. In an essay on American individual-
Frontier
ism, he named science an eternal frontier for American pioneers. "Our American
individualism," he wrote,
has received much of its character from our contacts with the forces of nature on a new
continent [but t]he days of the pioneer are not over. The great continent of science is as yet
explored only on its borders, and it is only the pioneer who will penetrate the frontier in the
quest for new worlds to conquer. The very genius of our institutions has been given to them by
the pioneer spirit.²⁰
Hoover thus affirmed a revolution in American historical research precipitated in 1893 by Frederick
Jackson Turner, who postulated a central role for the American frontier in the development of the
American character. "To the frontier the American intellect owes its striking characteristics," Turner
wrote, arguing that the American character is largely made up of "traits of the frontier, or traits
called out elsewbere because of the existence of the frontier."21 According to Turner, the will to
venture forth lies at the very heart of what it is to be American. "He would be a rash prophet,"
Turner maintained, "who should assert that the expansive character of American life has now en-
tirely ceased. Movement has been its dominant fact, and, unless this training has no effect upon a
people, the American energy will continually demand a wider field for its exercise. "22 Turner con-
cluded that Americanism had long flourished on the frontier and would continue to thrive best
there-if and where a new frontier might be found after the West was won. Hoover's assertion was
that science is just such a frontier. He did not suggest, however, that the frontier of science be ex-
plored with public funds.
Franklin Roosevelt, on the other hand, supported federal financing of pure science research,
and forged a transition in public policy using Hoover's theme of science as a frontier in combina-
tion with a revised "frontier policy." Wishing to know the "lessons learned" from science's role in
winning World War II, he established a panel toward the end of the war to study and recommend
a possible role for the federal government in the support of basic scientific research in peacetime.
In his letter charging the panel's chairman, Dr. Vannevar Bush (who had headed the wartime sci-
ence effort), Roosevelt made reference to "new frontiers of the mind" and wondered how they
might be "pioneered with the same vision, boldness, and drive with which we [had] waged [the]
war. "23 Vannevar Bush's response was a report entitled Science, The Endless Frontier. The report
6
cited prior policy with respect to geographical frontiers as precedent for an expanded role of the
federal government as patron of the sciences:
It has been basic United States policy that Government should foster the opening of new fron-
tiers. It opened the seas to clipper ships and furnished land for pioneers. Although these fron-
tiers have more or less disappeared, the frontier of science remains. It is in keeping with the
American tradition-one which has made the United States great-that new frontiers shall be
made accessible for development by all American citizens.²⁴
The report promoted the idea that science is a frontier that, if energetically explored with federal
funds, will produce social benefits.
The linkage of these ideas-science with frontiers, exploration, and discovery-has been in-
voked by all succeeding presidents. Eisenhower, for instance, declared in 1954 that the United
States had become "strong through its diligence in expanding the frontiers of scientific knowl-
edge." Gerald Ford, in an inspirational speech during the U.S. Bicentennial, claimed that
The hallmark of the American adventure has been a willingness-even an eagerness-to reach
for the unknown. For three and a half centuries, Americans and their ancestors have been ex-
plorers and inventors, pilgrims and pioneers, always searching for something new-across the
oceans, across the continent, across the solar system, across the frontiers of science, beyond the
boundaries of the human mind Our country must never cease to be a place where men and
women try the untried, test the impossible, and take uncertain paths into the unknown.²⁶
In more recent years, Ronald Reagan asserted that: "The conquest of new frontiers for the better-
ment of our homes and families is a crucial part of our national character The pioneer spirit still
flourishes in America. In the future, as in the past, our freedom, independence, and national well-
being will be tied to new achievements, new discoveries, and pushing back new frontiers "27
Calling the Hubble Space Telescope a "metaphor for a renewed spirit of basic exploration," the
current administration has linked pure astronomical research with the American exploration idea.
The American people have thus far been willing to support this approach with tax dollars, be-
lieving in the implied promise that basic scientific exploration will bring about social benefits. They
have supported the formation of such governmental "exploration" agencies as the National Aero-
nautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation. Federal funding for pure
science research has grown to more than $12 billion per year. Federal support for astronomy re-
search has increased to about $1 billion per year, including all costs. In consequence, the federal
government is now the principal patron of basic scientific research, including astronomical re-
search, in the United States.
The Issue for
The value of exploration for its own sake, then, has been a prominent theme in
Astronomical
the rhetoric of U.S. presidents from the earliest days of the Republic, and since
Exploration
World War II, it has been used to rationalize-in part-increased funding of ba-
Today
sic scientific research. This motive has been particularly significant for astro-
nomical research, the least applied of all scientific endeavors. However, while the exploration
metaphor still strikes a vibrant chord in the American imagination, its effectiveness in the current
implementation of federal science programs is questionable. This is because those programs have
not obviously led to the social and economic results expected of a "frontier," as is indicated by
America's crisis in education, the declining technical skills of her workforce, and the dearth of new
products and processes she brings to the international marketplace.
7
The authors believe the social benefits of exploration have SO far failed to materialize because
of two related factors. First, scientists and program administrators do not appreciate the latent
power of federally-funded science exploration as exploration. A specific example is the potential
of research astronomy to respond to the national education problem. Second, there exists little pro-
grammatic coupling between federally-funded science exploration and the public interest it is
meant to serve. Consequently, the social benefits of astronomical exploration, for example, are
largely serendipitous.
We assert that astronomical research can provide qualitatively increased social benefits if these
factors are addressed analytically and the consequences pursued. We see astronomy's untapped
"frontier" potential in its dynamic ideas, not in its established facts. If it were not so, then the value
of old knowledge would dwarf that of new knowledge, and the teaching of astronomy-rather
than astronomy research-would have paramount importance. Relatively few Americans know
what Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton knew about the cosmos, which is elementary knowledge,
and far fewer know enough to understand the astronomical questions the Hubble Space Telescope
was launched to answer. Yet, the Hubble mission has captured the public imagination. Find the
American who does not want to know if there are planets like Earth around other stars, or that a
brown dwarf or black hole exists! And find one who does not wish to make it an American discov-
ery rather than "fain receive at second hand."
This distinction between facts and ideas is critical to exploration's contribution to "the American
energy." A fact is merely data; an idea is a mental process that, once planted in the mind, creates
new opportunity. Withal, it can spark a sense of progress and optimism far beyond its immediate
reference. Turner's great insight was that America's frontier experience could be generalized on the
basis of ideas from the literal to a metaphorical plane after the geographical frontiers were gone. It
is at this point that America's western horizon and science "horizons of the mind" coincide.
We see that the historical analogy and thematic resonances between science and the West
break down precisely when the role of the federal government is examined. In opening the West,
the government's role was to create opportunity for private activity that would benefit all the citi-
zens. It acquired the land, surveyed it, built roads through it, and assured civil order. By contrast,
federally-funded science exploration now affects the intellectual experience of an elite few. The
fact that there is little programmatic effort to bring the stimulus of scientific exploration and discov-
ery to bear beneficially on the spirit of America is a failure to follow through with a great idea. What
effort there is lacks focus, coherence, and coordination, and is trivial compared with expenditure
on the activity itself. Without extending and enhancing the ramifications of scientific exploration, it
will be as if the government commissioned Lewis and Clark to explore new territories, but then
never surveyed the land for settlement, never built roads, and never allowed the pioneering fami-
lies to move in.
Fulfilling the
The bounty waiting on "the endless frontier" is the magic of ideas. The federal
Social
astronomy program must open opportunities for citizens to extract, utilize, and
Promise of
profit from that magic on much wider and deeper levels than is currently at-
Astronomical
tempted. This is a revolutionary suggestion-indeed shocking to astronomers
Exploration
inured to a sense of academic isolation and entitlement-yet it could be accom-
plished at little or no risk to the research itself. It is a matter of cleverly assuring everyone access to
the magic of ideas and the excitement of exploration and discovery.
8
The best way for this to happen is for the federal astronomy program to address the nation's
most significant need today: education. (Perhaps "learning" is a better word because it extends, as
does the problem, far beyond the classroom.) Recognizing this opportunity, a group of educators
and astronomers have recently proposed "an education initiative in astronomy".30 This new pro-
gram would exploit the glory of astronomical exploration to inspire learning widely in America.
Today, no program with that purpose exists.
The primary objective of the proposed education initiative is to utilize astronomy-its lore,
methods, history, and discoveries-to acquaint elementary and high school students with the basic
concepts of science. Attitudes toward science are formed in the early school years, and
astronomy's accessibility and attractiveness can enhance a child's first impressions. Other objec-
tives of the initiative include increasing the science literacy of the public and the involvement in
science of minorities and women. Astronomy has a proven potential to achieve all these objectives.
The broad resources of a federal research program can be engaged only through the program
structure itself. Thus, the existing astronomy research offices would be responsible for the pro-
posed education initiative, but would coordinate closely with outside educational, commercial,
government, and private interests. Because of the vast scale of educational activity, and because
education is not primarily a responsibility of the federal government, the initiative would seek to
engage the spirit of free enterprise by encouraging entrepreneurship. Also, national astronomical
facilities, the storefronts of federally-funded astronomy research, would be adapted to provide
high-impact learning contacts, especially for science teachers, museum and planetarium profes-
sionals, and the media.
The towering genius of America, as Abraham Lincoln maintained, is that it has ever disdained
the beaten path and sought regions hitherto unexplored. Our task today is to create, through fed-
eral support, opportunities for all Americans to share in these new horizons of the mind. The pro-
posed education initiative in astronomy exemplifies how the federal government can open a fron-
tier of science in the way it opened the West to the American people over a century ago.
9
Notes
1 Page Smith, John Adams, Vol. 1, 1735-1784 (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1962) 30.
2 Dumas Malone, Jefferson and His Time, Vol. 5 (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1974) 668.
3 Report of the Select Committee on the Smithson Request, John Quincy Adams Chairman, House of Represen-
tatives, March 5, 1840, in The Smithsonian Institution: Documents Relative to Its Origin and History, William
J. Rhees, ed. (Washington, D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution, 1879) 202-36.
4 Ibid.
5 Fred L. Israel, ed., The State of the Union Messages of the Presidents of the United States, Vol. 1 (New York:
Chelsea House, 1966) 246.
6 Charles Francis Adams, Memoirs of. John Quincy Adams, Comprising Portions of His Diary from 1795-1848,
Vol. XI (Philadelphia: J.P. Lippincott and Co., 1874-7), 409.
7 Israel, 3.
8 Smith, 443.
9 Caroline T. Harnsberger, ed., Treasury of Presidential Quotations (Chicago: Follett Publishing Company,
1964) 150.
10 Saul K. Padover, ed., The Complete Madison-His Basic Writings (New York: Harper & Bros, 1953) 337.
11 Harry Ammon, James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity (New York: McGraw Hill, 1971) 177.
12 Samuel Flagg Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Union (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1956) 505.
13 Israel, 303.
14 Israel, 323-4.
15 An ironic inverse consequence was the Philadelphia High School Observatory-one of the first few observa-
tories in the country-started in 1836 with funds that devolved to the municipality after the Second National
Bank of the United States was dissolved.
16 Leonard D. White, The Jacksonians (New York: The MacMillan Co., 1963) 5.
17 Arthur Bernon Tourtellot, The Presidents on the Presidency York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1964) 42.
18 Tourtellot, 54.
19 Tourtellot, 67.
20 Herbert Hoover, "American Individualism" in Essays on Current Themes, C. Alphonso Smith, ed. (Boston:
Ginn & Company, 1923) 393.
21 Emphasis added. See Frederick Jackson Turner, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" in The
Frontier in American History (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1962) 37-38.
22 Ibid.
23 Letter from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Vannevar Bush, in Vannevar Bush, Science, The Endless Frontier: Report
to the President on a Program for Postwar Scientific Research (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing
Office, 1945) viii.
24 Bush, 6.
25 Department of State Bulletin, Vol. 31, July 5, 1954 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1954)
20.
26 Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents: Gerald Ford, 1976, Vol. 12, No. 27 (Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1977) 1105-06.
27 Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Ronald Reagan, 1982, Bk II (Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1983) 892.
28 Richard Darman, "Keeping America First: American Romanticism and the Global Economy." Text of remarks
delivered at Harvard University on May 1, 1990, Cambridge, MA.
29 Intersociety Working Group, AAS Report XV: Research and Development FY 1991 (Washington, D.C.:
American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1990) 55.
30 Robert A. Brown, ed., An Education Initiative in Astronomy (Baltimore: Space Telescope Science Institute,
1990).
Support for this research was provided by NASA under Contract NAS5-26555 through the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is
operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy. Production assistance was provided by Foxglove Communications.
Space Telescope Science Institute
3700 San Martin Drive
Baltimore, Maryland 21218
January 1991