moon landing Flashcards
US govt. spending on technological research 1953 vs. 1960 vs. 1970
1953 - $13bn
1960 - $47bn
1970 - $76bn
% of research spending on defence 1953 vs. 1970
1953 - 85%
1970 - 55%
fell as medical research took off in the 60s
reasons for high military spending
-cold war rivalry: US determined to have military advantage in possible conflict
-economy: economic boom provided resources for rapid tech advance. corporations could obtain economies of scale.
-military industrial complex
-public support: fear of cold war + consumer applications of military tech e.g. air travel, engines
first nuclear bombs
fat man and little boy, developed on manhatten project and used on hiroshima and nagasaki by truman in aug 1945
first soviet nuclear bomb
detonated 1949
hydrogen bomb
truman approved H-bomb project after soviet detonation in 1949. 1,000 times more powerful than bombs dropped on japan
first american H-bomb
detonated 1952
first soviet H-bomb
detonated 1953
B-52 stratofortress
bomber developed by americans to carry nuclear weapons. could fly 6,000 miles
no. of american bombers by 1981 that could carry nukes
4,000
operation paperclip
US military tried to get control of the german rocket program after ww2. brought german aerospace engineers e.g. werner von braun (developer of v1 and v2 rockets) to work on their missile programme. soviets did the same
pershing rocket
developed in early 1960s to replace Snark and Corporal classes. medium range missile with range up to 650km. mainly stationed in NATO countries in europe where it could hit any major russian city west of the urals
ICBMs
Intercontinental ballistic missiles: first ones tested in 1958.
-Atlas had a range of 8,000 km and could hit USSR from US
no. of american ICBMs by 1981
8,000
minuteman missile
could be fired from underground, intended to survive soviet first strike. range of 1,600 km
polaris missiles
could be fired from submarine, range of up to 4,500 km.
retaliatory weapon, if the soviets attacked and destroyed US defences
MAD
by 1960s USSR and US accepted doctrine of mutually assured destruction (MAD). each had so many nukes that if either side attacked, they would both be wiped out
DEW
distant early warning system: line of radar stations across canada and alaska, designed to scan for missiles coming from across arctic circle
AWACS
airborne warning and control system: radar system in planes that were in the air 24 hours a day
SAMOS
satellite and missile observation system: first of US’s spy satellites, launched in 1960
advancements in conventional weapons
-supersonic fighter jets equipped with air to air missiles
-U-2 spy planes
-surface to air missiles
-aircraft carriers
-helicopter gunships
NORAD
in charge of US defence systems + constantly monitored them for signs of soviet attack
-north american aerospace defence command
US defence system malfunctions
9 Nov 1979, 4 command centres of the US nuke arsenal received data that soviets had launched nuclear attack. US prepared for retaliatory strike however alarm cancelled as no actual strike detected. caused by malfunction in training software
US vs USSR conventional forces
USSR had larger force, but US had better tech
sputnik
first man made satellite launched on R7 rocket by the soviets (headed by korolev) on 4 oct. 1957. (object-PS)
weighed 83kg (‘baby moon’)
successfully orbited earth and transmitted back radio signal
when was sputnik launched
4 oct. 1957
vanguard TV3
first attempted US launch of a satellite. exploded on the launch pad 6 dec. 1957
‘flopnik’
impact of sputnik on americans
-US had seemingly fallen behind soviets technologically -> setback on american morale
-became aware of military implications -> could use satellites to launch ICBMs
-political ‘storm’ fuelled by media -> senator LBJ demanded that EH meet with congress to discuss ‘missile gap’
-EH knew missile gap was not correct due to U2 flights over soviet missile sites
-US citizens could see the soviet R7 rocket making passes over the US -> fear
explorer 1
first successful US satellite launched feb. 1958 by von braun on jupiter c rocket. first satellite with scientific instruments
eisenhower quote
‘space should not be militarised’
how did EH try to catch up to the soviets
- national defence education act 1958
- set up NASA
- project mercury 1958
national defence education act 1958
committed $900 mil for better teacher salaries, improved labs and scientific equipment in schools. included funding for college scholarships that encouraged maths, science and modern languages.
effects of the national defence education act 1958
-by mid 60s enrolment in higher education jumped significantly
-nearly 1/3 of uni scientists and engineers were involved in some capacity in weapons research for the govt.
NASA
national aeronautics and space administration:
created by EH to coordinate efforts in space race
project mercury 1958
announced in 1958, with america’s first 7 astronauts and a plan to send a man into orbit before 1959. delays meant this target was missed
sputnik 2
launched with laika the dog inside (nov 1957)
luna 2 probe 1960
launched by soviets in 1960, became first artificial object to land on the moon
yuri gagarin
became first man in space in 1961 on vostok 1 rocket
alan shepard
first american to make suborbital flight in 1961
john glenn
became first american in space and to orbit earth on board friendship 7 in 1962
kennedy’s challenge to congress
25 may 1961 - ‘I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish’
-gave a specific focus to everything NASA did and a deadline by which to achieve it
JFK rice university speech sep. 1962
‘the exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in the race for space’
JFKs assasination
22 nov 1963. deadline of reaching the moon by end of 60s became set in stone -> tribute to kennedy who had challenged them to embark on ‘new frontier’
gemini project
saw a series of small ‘firsts’ undertaken by astronauts, each of which would be a step in building the tech and skills for the moon mission.
-flew 2 person crews and their crafts served as a model for larger apollo ships
edward white
-june 1965 edward white completed first space walk as part of gemini project
gemini 5
-gemini 5, showed 8 day endurance needed for lunar mission with use of fuel cells to generate elec. power
gemini 8
achieved first space docking between two vehicles in space
first automatically controlled re-entry into earth’s atmosphere
completed nov 1966 as part of gemini project
how did NASA gain the advantage over the soviets in the mid-60s
-public support: death of jfk, national pride, popularity of sci-fi e.g. star trek, the twilight zone
-budget increases
-involvement in apollo programme
-sergei korolev (chief soviet rocket scientist) death in 1966 -> US tech allowed to overtake
-LBJ commitment to apollo: had headed space commission as VP and gave all support to complete jfk’s deadline
NASA budget increase 1961 to 1964
500% increase
involvement in apollo programme
involved over 34,000 NASA employees and 375,000 private sector industrial and university contractors
LBJ quote
‘I do not believe this generation of americans is willing to resign itself to going to bed each night by the light of a communist moon’
sergei korolev
chief soviet rocket scientist, died 1966
apollo missions
name given to the programme that would seek to put a man on the moon
saturn V
rocket developed by americans using tech initially developed for ICBMs. used to carry the apollo craft
apollo craft components
-command module (CM)
-service module (SM)
-lunar module (LM)
command module
known as columbia on apollo 11. housed quarters and flight control section
service module
held propulsion and spacecraft support systems
lunar module
called the eagle by apollo 11 crew, would take two of the crew to lunar surface, support them there, and return them to columbia in lunar orbit
apollo 1 disaster, jan 1967
jan 1967, 3 astronauts killed when their spacecraft caught fire during launch sim.
apollo 8, dec 1968
dec 1968, became first manned space mission to orbit the moon
apollo 10, may 1969
carried out full practice run of lunar landing, flew within 15.6km of moon’s surface
apollo 11 launch
launched from kennedy space center in florida at 9:32 a.m. on 16 July 1969
apollo 11 astronauts
- neil armstrong (mission commander)
- edwin ‘buzz’ aldrin (lunar module pilot)
- michael collins (remained in command module)
apollo 11 propaganda
millions watched launch live on tv. huge international interest, NASA seized opp. for propaganda victory
-crew made 2 televised broadcasts while in flight from the interior of the ship, and a third as they drew closer to the moon, revealing intended approach and lunar surface
-described what they could see, answered media and school children questions, spoke about their exp. in space
when did apollo 11 reach the moon
19 july 1969, orbited seven times as they prepared to land
landing on the moon
20 july 1969, armstrong and aldrin entered the eagle and separated from columbia. touched down on the moon’s sea of tranquility
problems during the moon landing
-the eagle got an extra boost when it separated from columbia, overshot landing site by 4 miles
-used more fuel than anticipated, nearly running on empty
-guidance computer malfunctioning
-armstrong self-guided eagle to touchdown on tranquillity base
neil armstrong quote
‘Houston, this is tranquillity base. The eagle has landed’
exiting the eagle
camera provided live coverage as armstrong descended ladder: ‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’
aldrin followed 20 mins later. spoke with pres. nixon, set up experiments, collected samples of lunar soil and rock and set up plaque and US flag
how many people watched the moon landing
over 500 mil around the world (most watched tv event up to that point)
return to earth
spent over 21 hours on the moon. eagle docked with columbia and crew and samples moved to command module. set course back to earth
when did apollo 11 reach earth
columbia protected by heat shield, and slowed using parachutes on re-entry. splashed down in pacific ocean on 24 july, a few miles from USS hornet (recovery ship)
what happened when apollo 11 returned to earth
-remained in quarantine until august 10th 21 days (fears of contamination)
-hero’s welcome across US
-met with president, presented with presidential medal freedom by nixon
-parades in major cities
-media interviews
-tour of major world cities (24 countries in 45 days)
-met the pope
-seen as victory for capitalism and democracy
Historian roger launius quote
‘consistently throughout the 1960s a majority of americans did not believe apollo was worth the cost, with the one exception to this poll taken at the time of the apollo 11 lunar landing in july 1969. And consistently throughout the decade 45-60% of americans believed that the govt. was spending too much on space, indicative of a lack of commitment to the spaceflight agenda’
opposition to the space race
-huge spending caused resentment, especially among communities at the bottom of the economic scale
-hundreds of african americans marched to the launch site of apollo to protest
-‘america is sending lazy white boys to the moon because all they’re doing is looking for moon rocks. if there was work to be done, they’d send a nigger’
why did the apollo programme end
apollo 12-17 went to the moon after 1969, however none of them captured the public’s imagination like apollo 11 and the lack of anything tangible from the missions undermined the support for more missions. compounded by the near-disaster of apollo 13, when an explosion nearly killed the astronauts.
-in the early 1970s the space programme was scaled down.
-apollo scrapped after apollo 17 in 1972
what did nasa shift its attention to after apollo
-sent unmanned probes to explore the rest of the solar system.
-made temporary space station in 1973 (skylab) in orbit to carry out experiments in space and test long term effects of 0 gravity. crashed in 1979
-1980s, developed space shuttle programme of reusable vehicles that could take off, orbit earth and land safely. first was the ‘enterprise’ used in 1977
did the US win the space race
-US ‘won’ the space race by achieving the hardest goal of landing on the moon, however this is debatable: showed superiority of their tech but also their system. compounded by four failed attempts by soviets between 1969 and 1972.
-public fear about soviets receeded
cost of apollo programme
over $25bn. over 400,000 employees, dozens of companies and 100 universities. level of funding only available due to cold war
effect of detente on funding
beginnings of detente under nixon coincided with moon landings. reduction of tensions, as well as costs of great society and vietnam war, meant such levels of funding didn’t receive support of congress. recession and oil crisis of 1973 also had effect
importance of the media
-american public’s attention captivated by space race
-developments ever present in media
-facilitated and encouraged by tv
-major space events were watched by everyone and became a shared cultural experience
impact of space race on tech
satellite, communication and computer tech advanced greatly as a result of tech breakthroughs from space and missile programmes. investment of funds in texas, florida and california meant ‘sun belt states’ became centres of private enterprise breakthroughs in IT in the following decades
the moon landing and the end of the ‘glowing 60s’
in many ways the end of the optimistic liberalism of the 60s. hopefulness of the kennedy years destroyed by war, unrest, urban riots, counter culture and AWM.
However, images of men on the moon inspired future activism e.g. environmental and antinuclear campaigns of 70s/80s
robert dallek quote about the moon landing
‘the last glowing of 60s self-confidence in americans’
first woman in space 1963
valentina tereshkova
apollo 11 stages
loaded with 2,000 tonnes of fuel burning at rate of 15 tonnes per sec
-after 3 mins, launch escape tower jettisoned
-9 mins, second stage rocket jettisoned
-11 mins, reached orbit
distance from earth to moon
384,400 km
apollo 11 space suits
wore portable life support systems, spacesuits with an extra layer for added protection, and helmets with 2 visors
plaque on the moon
‘here men from the planet earth first set foot upon the moon’
challenger disaster
1986, space shuttle challenger exploded after take off killing 7 astronauts
first computers
developed during ww2 to break codes
e.g. the ‘turing machine’ developed by alan turing at bletchley park used to crack enigma code
ENIAC
computer built at uni of pennsylvania. world’s first electronic, large scale, general purpose computer. 30 tonne machine that measured 2m x 1m x 30m and contained 19,000 vacuum tubes and 6,000 switches. could add 5,000 numbers a sec.
-used by military to perform initial H-bomb calcs, artillery shell trajectory tables etc.
UNIVAC 1
universal automatic computer, became first computer for commercial use in 1951
IBM 650/700
international business machine, launched 1953. used transistors instead of vacuum tubes as they were smaller/ more reliable
the microchip
invented by engineers at intel in late 1960s to replace transistor. became heart of all future computers, making them more compact, reliable, and able to run multiple programs at same time
the apple computer
designed by steve wosniak and steve jobs in 1976 to become the first personal computer.
-first to have a ‘windows-type’ interface, and had a keyboard and mouse, along with a 3.5in floppy disk drive
MS-DOS
microsoft disk operating system, created 1980
the PC
personal computer, mass produced by IBM for home and office use in 1981
ARPAnet
advanced research projects agency network:
prev. name for the internet, began in 1969 as military computer net. opened to general public in 1990 when tim berners-lee invented the networked hypertext system called the world wide web
silicon valley
hub for r&d for computer industry in california. this was because original funding for military research was allocated in these areas and private companies built up around them
computer industry production value 1958 vs. 1978 vs. 1990
1958 - $1 mil
1978 - $17 mil
1990 - $100bn
military impact of the computer
originally used to work on calculations needed to aim missiles at soviet targets, by 1960s responsible for running early warning systems for soviet attack
-used satellites to spy on soviets/ communicate with military bases and forces
government impact of the computer
increasingly used to analyse and process huge amounts of data needed to run great society and other welfare programmes, the census, and the NSA (national security agency)
business impact of computers
used extensively by businesses by 1970, esp. in finance or banking, to manage data that ran through financial markets. not adopted in other regions of the world for at least another decade -> one of the reasons US economy became the largest throughout cold war
personal impact of computers
became widely available for home use in 80s. used for entertainment and working from home. 1990s internet would revolutionise use of computers and make them central
