Pioneering NASA's Earthly Applications
The 1960s began with the best of omens. Never before has the United States been richer, stronger, and happier. The writer Tom Wolfe referred to an "explosion of happiness" that drives individuals to seek new ways to satisfy their instincts, an urge for self-awareness, and a belief that the United States has a special mission to redeem the world by extending liberty and democracy to all people.
Expanding liberty and democracy was not the only mission that the United States was focused on. The 1960s were a decade of change and progress; a decade of social revolution, violent protests, and civil disorders, a new war that destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of young Americans and a powerful anti-war movement that challenged concepts of patriotism. It was a decade of environmental conservation, technological advances, and a fervent pursuit of space exploration which finalised with a mission to reach the moon. The 1960s were also the decade in which the first truly successful satellite was launched.
A Game-Changing Weather Satellite
In the early hours of April 1, 1960, NASA launched the weather satellite TIROS-I (Television Infrared Observation Satellite) from Launch Complex 17A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, aboard a Thor-Able II liquid-fueled rocket. The TIROS-I was designed and built by the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in collaboration with NASA. It was a drum-shaped satellite with a diameter of approximately 107cm (42 inches), a height of 48cm (about 19 inches), and weighed about 122.5 kilograms (280 pounds). It was constructed using an aluminium alloy framework for strength and lightness and its body was covered with solar cells to generate power. TIROS-I was specifically designed and launched to observe and study Earth's weather patterns and cloud cover from space. It was equipped with “a vast complex of optical, sensory, electronic, magnetic, and mechanical devices, that serve the following functions: to detect, store, and transmit the data; to control the various functions; to provide a memory (a clock) inside the satellite, to control the spin rate of the satellite, because it is spin stabilised; to control the attitude to a certain extent.”
The satellite was equipped with two groundbreaking features. The first was the Visible Infrared Spin-Scan Radiometer (VISSR), a television camera capable of capturing images of Earth's cloud cover and transmitting them back to the ground station. The second feature, the Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) system, enabled TIROS-I to capture high-resolution photographs of Earth's surface, covering an area of 800 miles on each side.
The Visionary Perspective: Expanding NASA's Role
The launch of TIROS-I signalled a turning point in NASA's journey, as it demonstrated the agency's ability to harness satellite technology for earthly applications. Its pivotal role in improving weather forecasting accuracy was not missed by meteorologists and weather forecasters. Just a month after its launch, Francis W. Reichelderfer, the chief of the U.S. Weather Service, wrote to NASA’s first Deputy Director, Dr Hugh Latimer Dryden, to inform him that he would be asking Congress for more funding for his organisation's research and development programme. The Weather Service sought to develop a system, in cooperation with NASA, to utilise the data received from the satellite in orbit.
Dryden was concerned about the role and responsibilities of NASA regarding the utilisation of satellite data and the potential overlap of missions and duplication of efforts. The goals and objectives of NASA were distinctly stated in the NASA Act of 1958, which President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law on July 29, 1958. They included the peaceful exploration of space, advancing aeronautical and space sciences, and conducting research and development of space technologies. "Doing things for “research purposes was all NASA’s mission involved”, he responded to Reichelderfer. NASA had collaborated to build the satellite, and it would build and operate others, but, Dryden added, “the exploitation of data from weather satellites either for research purposes or for weather forecasting is not within the function assigned to NASA by the NASA Act of 1958."
While Dryden’s view of the focus on space exploration was dominant among NASA’s leadership, there were a few visionary individuals within NASA who recognised that the agency’s technological advancements and capabilities could be used to expand NASA’s role to encompass the “public utility” aspect.
One such advocate was William L. Pickering, the director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Under Pickering's leadership, JPL played a crucial role in the development of numerous space missions, including the Explorer series (JPL designed, built, and operated Explorer 1, the first successful American satellite, which was launched on January 31, 1958, and discovered the Van Allen radiation belts), the Ranger programme, and the Mariner missions.
Pickering's vision for NASA was not only to explore space but also to use the knowledge gained for the betterment of humanity. He recognised the potential of space exploration and believed that NASA should keep its dominant role in the field, but he also understood that the technologies and knowledge developed through space missions could be utilised to address practical problems, benefiting society and revolutionising fields such as meteorology, agriculture, and resource management.
Pickering also believed that NASA could strengthen its connection with the public by demonstrating how satellite technology could improve communication systems, enable global connectivity, and provide useful data for environmental monitoring. This would help generate support for NASA's ambitious space missions, which required significant amounts of time and money. Convincing taxpayers to fund long-term, prestigious missions in space that they don't fully understand is difficult, but, Pickering argued, highlighting practical applications, such as utilising communication and environmental satellites, is a "basic political necessity" that could benefit NASA by showing its involvement in people's daily lives.
TIROS-I was not just one achievement; rather, it was the beginning of a larger programme of weather satellites. Building upon the success of TIROS-I, NASA launched the Nimbus programme, a second-generation weather satellite initiative that further advanced our understanding of Earth's weather systems, paving the way for advancements in meteorology and climate research. The technological advancements and discoveries from the Nimbus programme have since been incorporated into subsequent Earth-observing satellites launched by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The legacy of TIROS-I lives on in these subsequent missions, which continue to push the boundaries of our understanding of Earth's climate and weather phenomena.
The Political Landscape: Cold War and National Prestige
But this was 1961; the Cold War was raging, and there was intense geopolitical competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for dominance in space exploration. The launch of Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, had a profound impact on the United States and triggered a sense of anxiety, concern, and urgency among politicians, civilians, and the scientific community.
NASA was founded in direct response to the perceived threat posed by Sputnik. There was an acknowledgement that investing in scientific research, particularly in sectors relating to space and technology, was critical not just for national security, but also for economic growth and sustaining global competitiveness.
Furthermore, becoming the first in the space race became a matter of national pride for Americans, and many people worked hard to make this a reality. President Kennedy, a staunch supporter of space exploration, urged the nation to “set sail….on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked” Coupled with popular science-fiction television programmes, like “Men into Space”, and later “Star Trek” which continuously boosted their audience’s interest in the emerging space race while celebrating American technology and heroism galvanized support for NASA's ambitious endeavours.
Following President John F. Kennedy's inauguration in January 1961, James E. Webb assumed the role of NASA Administrator, with Hugh Latimer Dryden as his deputy. Webb, like his predecessor, recognised the importance of space exploration and prioritised NASA's efforts in that regard. Both Webb and Dryden understood the significance of NASA's primary mission and the need to secure funding for its ambitious space programme, particularly the Apollo lunar programme. The United States was determined to demonstrate its technological and scientific prowess. The Apollo programme was the centrepiece of this effort, and securing funding for its successful execution was a top priority for Webb and Dryden.
On April 14, 1961, Kennedy met with a number of top government officials to discuss how to respond to Yuri Gagarin’s recent spaceflight. Hugh Sidey, a Time-Life correspondent who had an interview with Kennedy scheduled for the same evening, was allowed to join these discussions. He later reported that when the President asked Wedd and Dryden about the possibility of overtaking the Soviet lead by sending a man to the moon, Dryden pointed out that a Manhattan Project-type effort was required to win the space race. Such an undertaking “was so large, so complex, and so far-off, requiring so many new scientific and engineering developments, components, and studies, that the United States might have time . . . to be the first to achieve this goal," agreed both Webb and Dryden. Sidey later reported that “the main thing everybody was hung up on was the projected cost," which could be as much as forty billion dollars.
“The cost,” Sidey quoted Kennedy as saying, “that’s what gets me.” The government was evaluating their options at that time, and the programme was being reviewed. Sidey reported that Kennedy looked at each of the men attending and said, “There’s nothing more important.
Kennedy’s commitment to the race to the Moon initiated the largest peacetime government-directed engineering project in U.S. history. By the time it was completed, Project Apollo had cost U.S. taxpayers $25.4 billion, which is equivalent to about $152 billion in today’s dollars
As NASA ’s budget increased and its space missions captured the public's attention, concerns arose about the allocation of resources and the neglect of urgent earthly issues. Critics and journalists, such as The New York Times' James Reston, questioned NASA's spending, particularly on the Apollo programme. They claimed that the United States' scientific and technological priorities were skewed with a disproportionate focus on space exploration at the expense of pressing environmental concerns, such as clean air and water. They warned NASA that the American people expected these massive space investments to yield considerable benefits for taxpayers.
President Lyndon B. Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was also staunchly committed to NASA and the other Kennedy space initiatives, and his support was crucial in ensuring the success of the Apollo programme and the historic moon landing in 1969. However, as the arguments against NASA's budget grew and were exacerbated by the political and economic climate of the time, mainly his Great Society programme, which aimed to end racial injustice and poverty, he made the decision to cap NASA’s budget.
While manned space remained the “highest national priority," the mounting internal and external pressures made James W. Webb think that now was the time to set up NASA’s earthly applications role. In the meantime, in 1961 and 1962, the United Nations adopted Resolutions 1721 and 1802, urging cooperation between Member States and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) in atmospheric sciences and the use of artificial satellites for information gathering, highlighting at the same time the importance of international cooperation in weather prediction and climate study. Suddenly, the Earth pictures taken from space had great scientific value.
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