50 Years Ago Today

America took it's first small step on our path to mastering space:

Then the definitive signal came. It came later than expected, but nevertheless it came, at 9:45 p.m. PT on Jan. 31, 1958. Explorer 1 was circling Earth for the first time - and proving that America could match the Soviets on the Cold War's orbital frontier.

That night, Dr. Werner Von Braun (above far right) became the undisputed hero and favorite adopted son of my hometown. But the lesser known story is that we could have beat Sputnik:

In fact, the traditional wisdom is that von Braun's Army-led effort could have put a satellite in space in 1956, but higher-ups worried that an Army launch might send too warlike a signal to Moscow. Instead, President Eisenhower favored the Navy's Project Vanguard, which had more civilian participation.

Von Braun's Army team bristled:

It happened that at the time of the first Sputnik, an Army missile team in Huntsville, Ala., had a rocket in storage that its leaders said could have beaten the Russians into orbit, had the government not forbidden its use in deploying a satellite. When the news of Sputnik 1 broke, Dr. von Braun, the German-born engineering leader of the team, pleaded with a Pentagon official, “For God’s sake, turn us loose and let us do something!”

Unfortunately, it was Sputnik's surprise launch that finally lit a fire under Ike:

Then came Sputnik's history-making launch in October 1957, followed less than a month later by Sputnik 2 and the first dog in orbit. Eisenhower pressed his rocketeers to come up with an answering volley within 90 days.

The Vanguard rocket failed spectacularly in December, earning the nickname "Flopnik."

And a cheer went up in Huntsville---Von Braun's Army team would now get their shot:

Suddenly, the screen was filled with the bright flash of a violent explosion and what was left of Vanguard fell back to the launch pad.

Surprisingly, instead of sighs of despair, a spontaneous cheer of elation arose in the room. Everyone there realized that the Navy's failure meant that the local missile team would now get its chance to redeem the honor of the United States.

And they did:

Tonight here in Huntsville, a 50th anniversary gala will be held at the new Davidson Center for Space Exploration, the brand new museum addition that houses one of the 3 remaining original Saturn V moon rockets. Happy anniversary, guys.

Comments

[Dave in Texas]

I remember Von Braun. Imposing man.

He learned the system very well, and gamed it well too, but he had a helluva team backing his claims.

[Bugler]

Cuffy, I've stopped by a few times before but I didn't know you were in Huntsville. We're homeys (or something)! Dave in TX is an OLD Rocket City expat too. Small world.

[Cuffy Meigs]

Yeah, Dave and I have shared stories before. There's quite a large Huntsvegas contingent in the Moronosphere---welcome!

[Jill in Texas]

When I was a high school kid working at G.C. Marshall, one of the old timers there told me the same story about how Von Braun and his team were held back by the Eisenhower administration. He said there was an altitude cap they were not supposed to exceed, and he inadvertently released a weather balloon that ascended too high. According to him, he and Von Braun supposedly chased the balloon in a Jeep all the way to the Mississippi border.

[Andy]

Good post, good comments. Thanks!

[lauraw]

Can't figure out what to do with it, but have to dump it somewhere, so I'm going to put this quite sad and somewhat curious bit of Americana here for now.

It just seems too odd to be true.
http://tinyurl.com/2fpq7x