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A
HALFCENTURY
OF
TECHNOLOGY
What havewe reaped?
...E
XACT LY
50 years ago a
pr imitive, cyli ndrical
rocket exploded up–
wa rd, seemi ngly defying
gravity.
Smoke from the rocket's liq–
uid fue l filled the nostrils of
Wernher von Braun, German
engineer, as he watched one of
his first rockets climb 1.5 miles
by
Jeft
E.
Zhorne
ture a rocket-powered research
plane-the X-15-that could fly at
altitudes of 100 miles and at speeds
almost seven times the speed of
sound.
Today a huge rocket propels a
space shuttle's 99 tons into orbit
around the earth. The shuttle han–
dles like an aircraft but lands like a
glider.
An impressive record wouldn't
you say?
Wernher von Braun (second from right) helped launch tbe first
U.S.
satellite Jan.
31, 1958. Right, the space shuttle
Columbia
before orbiting April 12 to 14, 1981.
into the clear sky for a flight that
!asted only 16 seconds.
Within 25 years, the United
States, with the aid of von Braun
and many others, would manufac-
16
Technology has transformed the
world. Today's civilization would
have been beyond the comprehen–
sion of earlier generations.
Our world has become the "play-
ground of the jet set and arena of
the businessman."
lnnovations in the fields of trans–
portation and communications re–
quired a vital ingredient- new
forms of energy. Ga-;oline to power
automobiles did the most to spark
the transition from coa! to oil as a
primary source of energy.
As man became increasingly
mobi le, however, a host of prob–
lems arose. Traffic jams began to
clog city centers; in downtown
areas driving became nearly as slow
as walking. Each year more than a
hundred thousand are killed world–
wide in traffic accidents. Smog
hangs over the world's major cit–
ies.
Tnquisitive man in the last 50
years pushed on, past fast, conve–
nient ground and jet transportation
to the rocket. The commercial use
of space has arrived.
Whereas this century began with
no powered air flight of any kind,
within 70 years man had lifted
himself to the moon.
Now let's look at sorne of the
consequences accompanying such
rapid growth.
Technology for War
Soon after Wernher van Braun's
historie rocket tests, sorne feared
what consequences the rocket
might bring. And rightly so. By
1937 van Braun, directing
hundreds of scientists, engineers
and technicians, was developing the
The
PLAIN TRUTH