Tag Archives: JFK
Chronology of Key Space Anniversaries for 2017
1942—75 Years Ago 3 October—Germany launched its V-2 rocket and is the first spacecraft to cross the Kármán line (100 km). 1947—70 Years Ago 20 February—The United States sent fruit flies into space. 1952—65 Years Ago 1 April—The U.S. Army … Continue reading
A Life Well-Lived: “Godspeed, John Glenn”
John Glenn (1921-2016) has left us after a lifetime of service to the nation and his fellow humans on Earth. John H. Glenn Jr. served as the astronaut on the February 20, 1962 Mercury-Atlas 6 (Friendship 7) mission, the first American orbital … Continue reading
Key Developments in USA/USSR Space Cooperation During the Cold War
The post-Cold War era has seen the United States and Russia undertake fundamentally significant cooperative ventures in space. This was an enormously significant development for the pursuit of aggressive human space activities, no doubt, but it tends to overshadow a … Continue reading
A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 – by Isao Hashimoto
Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a truly fascinating–as well as undeniably scary–time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project’s “Trinity” test near Los Alamos in 1945 and concluding … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Book Review: “Rocket Ranch”
Rocket Ranch. The Nuts and Bolts of the Apollo Moon Program at Kennedy Space Center. By Jonathan H. Ward. Chichester, UK: Springer Praxis, 2015. Jonathan B Ward’s Rocket Ranch is an enjoyable overview of the Kennedy Space Center during the … Continue reading
Parallels Between the Sputnik and 9/11 Crises
Is there a relationship between the so-called “Sputnik moment” in October 1957 and the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks? Yes, at several levels there are intriguing parallels between the Sputnik crisis of 1957-1958 that Eisenhower faced and the aftermath of the … Continue reading
JFK and the Limits of Presidential Leadership in Space
This is a perennial topic so I thought it appropriate to raise in once again. In reviewing the Kennedy decision to go to the Moon, announced on May 25, 1961, in a speech to a joint session of Congress, it soon … Continue reading
A Short History of USAF’s Strategic Air Command in the Cold War
During the latter 1940s, although some demobilization took place after World War II, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union precipitated the creation of a strategic force that could strike an enemy with nuclear weapons anywhere … Continue reading
Timing of the Apollo Landing in Relation to the Soviet Lunar Program
Americans have long known that the American effort to land on the Moon served as an enormously effective response to a Cold War crisis with the Soviet Union. When Apollo 11 landed on the Moon in July 1969 few recalled … Continue reading
Roger Launius's Blog 