Research Paper on "Space History and the Reason to Maintain a Space Program"

r />Space Programs and Communication

If satellites were not there, communication in the world would probably be a century behind what it is now. The world relies on satellites for effective and fast communication. Some early communications companies, such as AT&T worked with NASA in the 60s to install satellites in the orbit. GPS systems, radio, television and mobile phone connectivity rely on satellites for effective communication. The GPS system was a gift from the sputnik mission of 1957. Radio frequency variations were the leading cue for the U.S. to discover where the Russian space craft was located in space. The Doppler Effect is based on the fact that changes in light or sound frequencies are indicative of a change in the position of the craft in space. Submarines now use this technology for naval navigation, without getting lost or losing track of their bearings. The Department of Defense started developing a GPS system for navigation, and launched it in 1978. It was fully completed in 1995.

Preservation and Maintenance of the Environment

The launch stand that was used in several Apollo missions was disassembled and left standing in the open. Years later, it was discovered that the stand had a poisonous coating of polychlorinated biphenyls, abbreviated as PCBs. The PCBs were beginning to seep into the soil and poisoning it. This incident led to research that culminated in the development of activated metal treatment that is now used to extract PCBs from paint, without scraping the paint from a surface. Agriculture has also benefited from notifications of this technology, and uses it to clear soils off poisonous chemicals.

Space Exploration and the Transport Sector

The material found on the parachute that took Vikings to Mars has been used to develop durable tires for automobiles. Good Year was the first to use the technology. It is now widely used to manufacture high quality tires by various tire manufacturing companies. The tires outlive the traditional counterparts by many years.

Safety Uses for the Public

The technology used to launch rockets far into space has been extrapolated to manage fires around the world. Orbital Technologies Cooperation worked with the Department of Defense to build fire extinguisher pumps that utilized the same technology to pump and break water into fine droplets, and put out fire remarkably fast. The pressure and the water form are cited as the main reason for the efficiency in these fire extinguishing pumps (Adamu).

Budget Citations in Opposing the Space Program- Financial Opposition

There were concerns by NASA leadership that the congress and the president might renege on supporting the project. Funding was a central element that would tilt the spoils in the programs objectives to launch in space. The chief of NASA at the time, made concerted efforts to get congress to commit to a long-term funding support for the program. These efforts were frequently met with indifferences.

The financial estimates for successfully launching Apollo 2 were in the range of 20 billion dollars. With some extrapolation, this figure is equivalent to approximately 200 billion dollars in the present day; inflation factors considered.

Owing to the concerns that were at the heart of the Space Center's chief, he designed a plan to exaggerate the figures so that if the state fell behind in funding, the Apollo project would still be completed successfully. Indeed, Webb's fears were soon confirmed, because the funding commitment was defaulted in the latter years of project development. NASA, under the leadership of Webb, managed through thick and thin, to complete the Project Apollo. The success is attributed to the healthy networks that Webb had with President Lyndon Johnson and members of the senate (Ezel). He fronted a 35 billion dollar funding request for the project so that it could be carried out through the seventies.

Generally, however, there were other reasons for the success of the Project Apollo. There was general paranoia among the populace about the progress of the Soviet Union in space exploration. Americans wanted to keep at pace in this new area of scientific dominance. Therefore, the project received support to guard the pride and security of the nation, against sworn rivals. NASA also knew that the project was tenable. However, they also recognized the need to accomplish their aims quickly. The budget, for instance, had multiplied many times over, between 1960 and 1965. This period saw an increase from 500 million dollars at the onset (1960) to 5.2 billion dollars in 1965. The funding from National Coffers constituted slightly over 5% of the total country's budget. More recent extrapolation suggests a budget of over 100 billion for NASA, if the funding would have been dine in recent years. It is also worth noting that a remarkable percentage of the budget allocation for NASA, half of it was dedicated to the human space-lift project. A huge percentage was directly spent on the Apollo project. Statistical data shows that NASA spent almost 27 billion dollars on the human space lift project; this figure excludes support and infrastructural costs. 20 billion, of the amount, was spent on Apollo (Ezel).

Webb used the opportunity to pursue other projects that were not directly in Apollo's pursuits. He, however, linked these to Apollo and claimed that they were Apollo support projects. In particular, projects such as Surveyor Satellite Probes, Ranger, and Lunar Orbiter, were incorporated in the Apollo budget. The reason for this was that Webb wanted to expand NASA and make it diverse, as opposed to just being attributed to Apollo.

Webb knew that for Apollo to succeed, he had to get involved in the Apollo politick. He made inroads and negotiated around and across divides, during President Kennedy's tenure. He understood that the whole funding issue was a matter of conceding and gaining ground at the same time (Lambright).

The end of the 60s was the culmination of achievements for NASA. The 60s were great years for project NASA. The space scientists could pat each others' backs for the achievements of the era. Most significant of these achievements is that in a span of about 10 years, the U.S. had overtaken their arch rivals, Russia and the Soviet Union, and became an undisputed leader in space exploration ventures. In 1969, NASA succeeded to take the first human spaceflight to the moon. There was hope that the next decade would see greater marvels for the Space Center. The Space Task Group gave the president the space exploration plan for NASA, for the next two decades succeeding 1969. There was a raft of proposals, including establishing a base on the moon, an orbital space for the earth, and a space station for the orbit, among others (NASA).

It is strange that despite the achievements of NASA in the 60s, public opinion about the project began to change. This was not anticipated. The public seemed bored with space antics.

The declining support for NASA-related ventures was fueled by the largely unpopular war in Vietnam. The war had exerted unnecessary strain on the economy and the American public. There was, therefore, increasing dissent for any projects that tended towards exerting superiority and dominance.

Consequently, the earlier 4-billion-budget of 1969 for NASA was trimmed down to 3.7 billion dollars in the budget for 1970. It was further cut down to 3 billion dollars in 1974.

The budget constraints forced NASA leaders to abandon the larger… READ MORE