How Rockets are Made (Rocket Factory Tour - United Launch Alliance)
martyb writes:
SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have made the construction and launch of space-faring rockets seem almost commonplace. Once in a while things don't go completely right, but it is amazing how much a successful launch is now taken for granted. This was not always the case!
Growing up, I was faced with the daunting prospects of the Cold War and the nuclear arms race. Every couple weeks there seemed to be yet another nuclear weapon test on the nightly news. First with atomic bombs and later with hydrogen bombs. It was common to hear and see daily reminders of Duck and Cover, fallout shelters, and Mutual Assured Destruction. It was a frightening time to be a child. Especially since there were certain "facilities" in the area that would likely put us on the list of Soviet targets.
Juxtaposed with that fear was a sense of hope and destiny. John F. Kennedy had just been elected president. His inaugural address challenged: "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." Then, on the heels of the USSR's Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in space, Kennedy became "eager for the U.S. to take the lead in the Space Race, for reasons of national security and prestige." A short while later, Kennedy gave his famous speech (transcript and video [NB: He doesn't even seem to sweat!]) in which he uttered the challenge:
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon... (interrupted by applause) we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
The United States thereupon launched headlong on the space race. It was a heady time when it seemed almost anything was possible. Science would continue to unlock countless mysteries. Hope reigned high.
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