Professor Walter's History Lessons

Excuse me Sir, do you have anything to declare?

On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 touched down on the surface of the Moon, realizing the dreams of millions throughout the ages. On that historic mission Neil Alden Armstrong, Micheal Collins, and Edwin "Buzz" E. Aldrin Jr. made history. During the short stay on the celestial body they collected rocks and dust samples which they brought back to Earth. On July 24, 1969, they splashed down in the Pacific with their cargo where they were promptly picked up by the USS Hornet and brought to Hawaii.

As with any international traveler they went through customs. It was a little joke at the time, but the three spacemen had to fill out the appropriate paperwork to re-enter the country listing Cape Kennedy as their departure point with a stopover on the Moon and finally to Honolulu. Their collected cargo was documented as well.

This exercise, to the best of my knowledge, was not repeated for subsequent missions. I suppose the customs office may have had a problem with the fact that the astronauts were unable to find an official on the Moon to get their passports stamped.

-Professor Walter

Bridging the gap between now and the future

During the 19th century and at the dawn of the 20th century, the world was astounded by the impact of the industrial revolution, as well as fearful of the growing threat of genuine world conflicts.  As with all advances, there was a genuine fear of the future and it was up to the imagination of great minds to help bridge the gap.  Authors such as Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Edgar Rice Burroughs laid the foundation of many innovations to come much.  Without their creative stories it is questionable weather people would have been able to look past the present into the future and what would come.  This early group of visionaries laid the foundation of submarines and space travel.  Then in August of 1928 a new creation appeared that helped to drive America to outer space.  It was then that "Armageddon 2419 A.D." by Phillip Francis Nowlan was published in Amazing Stories, telling the tale of Anthony Rogers, a World War I veteran who was exposed to radioactive gases and rendered asleep for 492 years.  Thus the world met Buck Rogers who could become a part of America, spanning comic books, panels, radio shows, TV shows and movies.

The technology used in the programming advanced with the pace of the real world, updating to keep the story interesting and to maintain the vision of the future as being a technologically advanced place.  But the 1957 launch of Sputnik changed much of that.  America had lost the first leap into space against the Soviet Union.  Quick to counter, match, and then eventually exceed the Soviets, America launched into a public relations blitz to prove to ourselves that we could, and would, be the best in the world and beyond.  Buck Rogers was cited, giving examples of technology we could soon look forward to, which helped to maintain hope after repeated failures in our early space missions.

While our early hopes of matching Buck Rogers innovations such as the flying belts have yet to materialize, we were and still are the only country to land men on the moon.  Today, as fears of terrorist attacks and global warming grip the earth, it is easy to see why we are looking to the past again for the innovations to give us hope.  The Star Trek transporter and a mission to Mars seem possible within our life times.  What tales will help guide the next generation of explorers?  Will it be Buck Rogers, the crew of the starship Enterprise, or something else?

-Professor Walter

 

 

Ridiculed in life, praised in death

Born on October 5th of 1882, Robert Goddard would become one of the greatest rocket engineers in history.  His most famous success is the worlds first liquid fueled rocket, as well as advancing the theory that such a rocket would allow for a vessel to leave the earth.  Today he is known as the father of modern rocketry.  Despite his skills and genius he was often ridiculed in the press.  One such editorial was published in the New York Times in response to Goddard's statement that rockets could carry meteorological equipment into space.

It is not obvious, however, that the instruments would return to the point of departure. . . .for parachutes drift just as balloons do. And the rocket, or what was left of it after the last explosion, would need to be aimed with amazing skill, and in a dead calm, to fall on the spot whence it started. But that is a slight inconvenience. . . .though it might be serious enough from the [standpoint] of the always innocent bystander. . . .a few thousand yards from the firing line.

[A]fter the rocket quits our air and really starts on its longer journey it will neither be accelerated nor maintained by the explosion of the charges it then might have left. To claim that it would be is to deny a fundamental law of dynamics, and only Dr. Einstein and his chosen dozen, so few and fit, are licensed to do that.

What the New York Times did not know is that Goddard had already successfully tested his theories for propulsion in space.  Following that Goddard released a statement and became wary of scientists and the media, especially as he began to fully understand what rockets could to in war time.  Goddard's successes and failures were, for the most part, hidden from public view, especially as WWII came into being.  As the war ended and American soldiers began to question the German's on the development of the V2 rocket they were surprised to learn that their work was based on that of an American.  Goddard, who lived just long enough to view a V2, stated that the German's had in fact stolen his design.

Goddard died of throat cancer shortly after making that statement.  In 1969, as man walked on the Moon, the New York Times issued a retraction of their earlier statement.  The retaction conclueded with this,

Further investigation and experimentation have confirmed the findings of Isaac Newton in the 17th Century and it is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum as well as in an atmosphere. The Times regrets the error.

49 years after the first Goddard was finally granted approval by the media.  The US Government honored Goddard with a stamp and by naming Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland after him.

-Professor Walter

An unexpected learning curve

The Macintosh Portable Computer was released by Apple Computer in September 1989.  The 15.8 pound computer was Apple's first attempt at a battery powered laptop.  It was large, heavy and rife with problems.  PC Magazine rated it 17 on the top 100 worst tech devices ever created.  Despite these shortcomings the Macintosh Portable did take one voyage a bit beyond its design specifications.  The laptop went into space aboard the Space Shuttle.  It was in the environment of weightlessness that some unexpected problems were discovered.

The first problem was with the trackball. It was quite easy for it to float away. At the time, trackballs were not integrated into many computers, and the Macintosh Portable had a full sized one included. The other problem was the floppy eject system. The Macintosh computer's floppy disk drive did not have a button to push. Instead you had to drag the disk icon to the trash, and the computer would automatically eject it. In outer space, the unexpected effect is that the disk does not stop... and floats away on the eject trajectory. 

These lessons learned were incorporated into future laptop designs.

-Professor Walter