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Star Stuff: An Exploratory Case Study of the Cosmos Television Franchise

The Cold War Space Race

You have just entered the Cold War space race section of this project. This section will briefly summarize some of the major moments in space exploration history from the 1950s and 60s that the Cosmos documentaries were in direct conversation with. The Cold War space race between the United States and the Soviet Union began while Carl Sagan was a graduate student, working to acquire his Ph.D. It started when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first off-Earth satellite that went into orbit on October 4, 1957. The Soviet’s ability to spy on other countries or launch weapons from outer space worried the United States. They would successfully launch their own satellite in response on January 31, 1958. This satellite was called Explorer 1. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA, was formed that summer on July 29, 1958. Below is a 17-minute clip from a documentary television series called The Big Picture, which documented the launch of Explorer 1 from its very inception. Feel free to watch as much of it as you like.

Carl Sagan’s early work as a young scientist was focused on unmanned space probes designed to study nearby planets without carrying human passengers. The Mariner 2 mission to Venus serves as a notable example of that. Here's a picture of a Mariner 2 model being delivered to then U.S. President John F. Kennedy. The probe would eventually launch on August 4, 1962.
One month after Mariner 2’s launch, President Kennedy would give his famous speech at Rice University stadium. In the speech, he challenged America’s scientists to send a man to the moon and safely return him to Earth before the end of the decade. If you would like a refresher on the objectives outlined in this speech, I have provided a 15-minute excerpt for you to watch below.

Though President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, his goal of landing an American astronaut on the moon was achieved by the Apollo 11 mission on July 16, 1969. Here's a select 13-minute portion of a documentary titled flight of Apollo 11: The Eagle Has Landed. This documentary was released that same year to document the achievement. I have selected 13 minutes for you to view at your leisure.

Upon returning to Earth, the Apollo 11 crew addressed the United States Congress. The three speeches given by each member of the Apollo 11 Team highlight their vision for the future of the United States in outer space after the completion of their historic trip. All 14 minutes of these speeches are available for you to watch below. You can watch as much of it as you like. Once you are done, you can continue on to the section covering Sagan’s work on the Pioneer Viking and Voyager space probes by clicking the blue button at the bottom of the page. You can also return to the Launch Point or use the toolbar at the top of your screen to select whichever sections of the project you would like to view next.

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Sputnik 1 The Sputnik 1 (PS-1) satellite is shown here on a rigging truck in the assembly shop in the fall of 1957 as a technician puts finishing touches on it. When the development of the first advanced scientific satellite, Object D, proved to be more difficult than expected, the Soviets decided to launch a simpler, smaller satellite. PS-1, or Sputnik 1, began development in November 1956. On October 4, 1957, Sputnik 1 successfully launched and entered Earth's orbit. Sputnik shocked the world, giving the USSR the distinction of putting the first human-made object into space and putting the United States a step behind in the space race. *Image Credit*: NASA
John F. Kennedy Speech - Rice Stadium
Apollo 11 Address Joint Session of Congress after Historic Flight Speaker John McCormack of Massachusetts introduced the Apollo 11 crew members before a Joint Meeting of Congress. The moment marked the culmination of a determined American effort to defeat the Soviet Union in a “space race” that began with the launch of Sputnik by the Soviets in 1957. “We are honoring today three men who represent the best in America and whose coordinated skill, fantastic daring, and visionary drive have made history that constitutes a turning point of paramount importance in the journey of mankind,” Speaker McCormack proclaimed. Each astronaut—Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins—addressed the enthusiastic audience about their successful moon landing on July 20, 1969. Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, acknowledged the role of the House and Senate in the successful mission. “It was here, in these Halls that our venture really began”—a reference to the legislation that established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the funding of the space program by Congress. Before the conclusion of the meeting, the honorees presented Speaker McCormack and Vice President Spiro Agnew with two American flags that had flown over the respective chambers before being brought onto the moon.
LAUNCH OF EXPLORER 1 SATELLITE 1958 "THE BIG PICTURE" EPISODE 71512 This episode of the U.S. Army's TV program "The Big Picture" deals with the the first satellite of the United States Explorer 1, launched as part of its participation in the International Geophysical Year. The mission followed the first two satellites the previous year; the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 and 2, beginning the Cold War Space Race between the two nations. Army General John Medaris headed the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, which oversaw both JPL and Wernher von Braun’s rocket team in Huntsville, Ala. JPL and the Army teamed up to launch Explorer 1. The Huntsville team provided the first-stage rocket, while JPL built the upper stages and the satellite that carried the science payload. Medaris played a pivotal role in advancing the development of Explorer 1. Explorer 1 was launched on January 31, 1958 at 22:48 Eastern Time (equal to February 1, 03:48 UTC) atop the first Juno booster from LC-26 at the Cape Canaveral Missile Annex, Florida. It was the first spacecraft to detect the Van Allen radiation belt, returning data until its batteries were exhausted after nearly four months. It remained in orbit until 1970, and has been followed by more than 90 scientific spacecraft in the Explorer series. Explorer 1 was given Satellite Catalog Number 4, and the Harvard designation 1958 Alpha 1, the forerunner to the modern International Designator. To the surprise of mission experts, Explorer 1 changed rotation axis after launch. The elongated body of the spacecraft had been designed to spin about its long (least-inertia) axis but refused to do so, and instead started precessing due to energy dissipation from flexible structural elements. Later it was understood that on general grounds, the body ends up in the spin state that minimizes the kinetic rotational energy for a fixed angular momentum (this being the maximal-inertia axis). This motivated the first further development of the Eulerian theory of rigid body dynamics after nearly 200 years—to address this kind of momentum-preserving energy dissipation. Sometimes the instrumentation would report the expected cosmic ray count (approximately 30 counts per second) but sometimes it would show a peculiar zero counts per second. The University of Iowa (under Van Allen) noted that all of the zero counts per second reports were from an altitude of 2,000+ km (1,250+ miles) over South America, while passes at 500 km (310 mi) would show the expected level of cosmic rays. Later, after Explorer 3, it was concluded that the original Geiger counter had been overwhelmed ("saturated") by strong radiation coming from a belt of charged particles trapped in space by the Earth's magnetic field. This belt of charged particles is now known as the Van Allen radiation belt. The discovery was considered to be one of the outstanding discoveries of the International Geophysical Year. The acoustic micrometeorite detector detected 145 impacts of cosmic dust in 78,750 seconds. This calculates to an average impact rate of 8.0×10−3 impacts m−2 s−1 over the twelve-day period (29 impacts per hour per square meter). This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2K. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
Mariner 2 Mariner 2 was the world's first successful interplanetary spacecraft. Launched August 27, 1962, on an Atlas-Agena rocket, Mariner 2 passed within about 34,000 kilometers (21,000 miles) of Venus, sending back valuable new information about interplanetary space and the Venusian atmosphere. Mariner 2 recorded the temperature at Venus for the first time, revealing the planet's very hot atmosphere of about 500 degrees Celsius (900 degrees Fahrenheit). The spacecraft's solar wind experiment measured for the first time the density, velocity, composition and variation over time of the solar wind.
Kennedy Receives Mariner 2 Model Dr. William H. Pickering, (center) JPL Director, presenting Mariner spacecraft model to President John F. Kennedy, (right). NASA Administrator James Webb is standing directly behind the Mariner model. The Mariner 2 probe flew by Venus in 1962 after the failure of Mariner 1, sending back data on its atmosphere, mass, and weather patterns. It stopped transmitting in 1963 after delivering a wealth of scientific information.
Apollo 11 Mission image - Astronaut Edwin Aldrin unpacks experiments from the Lunar Module Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., Lunar Module (LM) pilot, unpacks the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package (EASEP) from the Modularized Equipment Storage Assembly (MESA) of the LM. Image taken at Tranquility Base during the Apollo 11 Mission. Original film magazine was labeled S. Film Type: Ektachrome EF SO168 color film on a 2.7-mil Estar polyester base taken with a 60mm lens. Sun angle is Medium. Tilt direction is Northwest (NW).
Apollo 11 Crew Portrait This is the official crew portrait of the Apollo 11 astronauts. Pictured from left to right are: Neil A. Armstrong, Commander; Michael Collins, Module Pilot; Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Lunar Module Pilot. Apollo 11 was the first marned lunar landing mission that placed the first humans on the surface of the moon and returned them back to Earth. Astronaut Armstrong became the first man on the lunar surface, and astronaut Aldrin became the second. Astronaut Collins piloted the Command Module in a parking orbit around the Moon. Launched aboard the Saturn V launch vehicle (SA-506), the three astronauts began their journey to the moon with liftoff from launch complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 8:32 am CDT, July 16, 1969.
The Flight of Apollo 11: Eagle has Landed (1969)
President Nixon visits Apollo 11 crew in quarantine President Richard M. Nixon was in the central Pacific recovery area to welcome the Apollo 11 astronauts aboard the U.S.S. Hornet, prime recovery ship for the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. Already confined to the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) are (left to right) Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot. Apollo 11 splashed down at 11:49 a.m. (CDT), July 24, 1969, about 812 nautical miles southwest of Hawaii and only 12 nautical miles from the U.S.S. Hornet. The three crew men will remain in the MQF until they arrive at the Manned Spacecraft Center's (MSC) Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL). While astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the Lunar Module (LM) "Eagle" to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the Moon, astronaut Collins remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) "Columbia" in lunar-orbit. Publication information: AS11-10075311
Apollo 11 Recovery Operation The Apollo 11 mission, the first manned lunar mission, launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida via a Saturn V launch vehicle on July 16, 1969 and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. The Saturn V vehicle was developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) under the direction of Dr. Wernher von Braun. Aboard were Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, Command Module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module pilot. The Command Module (CM), piloted by Michael Collins remained in a parking orbit around the Moon while the Lunar Module (LM), named ?Eagle??, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, landed on the Moon. Armstrong was the first human to ever stand on the lunar surface, followed by Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin. During 2_ hours of surface exploration, the crew collected 47 pounds of lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth. Shown here is the recovery operation of the capsule in the Pacific Ocean after splashdown. Navy para-rescue men recovered the capsule housing the 3-man Apollo 11 crew. The crew was taken to safety aboard the USS Hornet, where they were quartered in a mobile quarantine facility. With the success of Apollo 11, the national objective to land men on the Moon and return them safely to Earth had been accomplished.