Daniel Hizgilov

Professor Miles
ENGL 137H
8 November 2015
Reaching For the Stars:
An Analysis of Shifting American Perspectives of Space Exploration Since 1957
It all started in a wave of paranoia; an outbreak of anti-communist sentiment and
competitive spirit born from the presence of a man-made ball of Soviet metal in the night sky.
When the U.S.S.R. launched Sputnik in 1957, Americans watched their technological and
exploratory edge begin to falter. The Russians had reached space first, a sign of weakening U.S.
hegemony in technological development which the American public and lawmakers perceived as
a threat to national security. In this socio-political panic, President Eisenhower signed into
existence the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, setting the U.S. on a track
towards the stars and laying the framework for U.S. dominance in the field of aerospace
development. Since this avant-garde reform, Americans perception of space exploration has
undergone revolutionary shifts in thinking and ambition, which have resulted in a radically
different space program than the one which our generational precursors watched put humans on
the Moon. NASAs transition from an all-manned space program to a mostly unmanned space
program has caused an overall shift in its role from a venture designed to explore the solar
system and beyond to one focused on researching the more pressing issues of preservation and
climate change here on Earth.
At the turn of the 20th century, the concept of interplanetary spaceflight became a
popularized idea thanks to the work of science fiction writers such as Jules Verne and H.G.

Wells. Their fantastical stories of men on the Moon and wars between worlds captured the
imagination of the American public and piqued the interest of a select group of international
scholars. One of those scholars was an American, Robert Goddard, who in 1926 would launch
the first liquid fueled rocket after publishing various dissertations on the future of rocketry and
the achievability of manned spaceflight. His works were ridiculed by the contemporary scientific
establishment, but by 1943, at the height of WWII, Nazi engineers were putting his ideas into
action. The V-2 rocket, used by the Nazis to bombard Britain, was the worlds first successful
guided missile and could achieve heights of 90 km (56 miles) before descending on its target;
essentially grazing the boundary between Earths atmosphere and space. While Germany seemed
to have the edge when it came to rocket technology, the end of WWII prompted a diaspora of
Nazi engineers to both the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Included among this body of rocketeers
was Wernher von Braun, the man who pioneered the development of the V-2 and would go on to
become the father of the American space program. His crowning achievement; putting man on
the Moon.
The American perception of space exploration has shifted radically since von Brauns
Apollo Program brought humans to the surface of the Moon in 1969. At the height of the Moon
missions, asking an American citizen what they thought defined space exploration would have
brought about talk of humanitys drive to reach the Moon, Mars, and potentially beyond. For
every American this has to be the proudest day of our lives because of what you have done the
heavens have become a part of man's world, and as you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquility, it
inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquility to earth said President Nixon
during his phone call to the Apollo 11 crew on the Moon (Peters). Nixons quote embodies the
socio-political impact that the Moon landing had on the American psyche. The nation was swept

up in a wave of emotional pride; Americans had reached the Moon first. The U.S. had beaten the
Soviet Union in the political aspect of space exploration and achieved a pioneering feat of
engineering for humanity as a whole. Space exploration at the time was a very humanistic
venture and because of this, it was heavily politicized, incredibly expensive, and severely limited
in scope. When the Apollo program was shut down in 1972 due to budgetary issues, NASA
began to direct its efforts to a new kind of space exploration that was both more affordable and
pragmatically broadened the prospect of fully exploring our solar system: unmanned spaceflight
(Zubrin 16).
The use of unmanned probes in space exploration dates back to the Mariner program of
the early 1960s that saw flybys and landings on the inner planets Mercury and Venus, but it
wasnt until the 1970s and the Pioneer and Voyager missions that Americans got to witness
unmanned spaceflight in all its glory (Moltz 64). These probes were sent out to explore the outer
planets; Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, bringing humanitys proverbial eye to the far
reaches of the solar system. Americans got to see the first close-up images of Jupiters
gargantuan Great Red Spot, Saturns radiant rings and the brilliant blue atmospheres of Uranus
and Neptune, while the unmanned nature of the programs allowed space exploration to be
viewed through an apolitical lens for the first time since the Cold War began. Although manned
spaceflight such as the Space Shuttle and International Space Station ventures persisted into the
21st century, space exploration in its most literal sense has become synonymous with names
such as Cassini, Galileo, Dawn, and New Horizons; all modern, unmanned probes that have
helped bring the outer solar system into better focus. Unmanned spaceflight has removed the
political element from space exploration and helped to popularize scientific research to the
watchful American public. Instead of revolving around technological competition and cultural

divisiveness with the Russians, this new way of exploring space has bridged the competitive
divide in the international community, bringing scholars from around the world together and
introducing new constituents to the field of space exploration (Moltz 62). In 2008, Indias space
agency successfully launched a lunar impact probe which ended up discovering scant traces of
water on the Moons surface, 2013 saw the Chinese land a rover on the moon, and by 2014 the
Indian program had successfully landed a rover on Mars (Moltz 76-81). Thanks to the
preponderance of unmanned spaceflight, space exploration is no longer a field monopolized by
the United States and as a result, Americans have joined a broader, global community of
scientific ambitions and achievements.
While NASAs dramatic shift from manned to unmanned space flight has de-politicized
and globalized the field of space exploration, a greater, secondary paradigm shift has occurred
with regards to where NASAs focus of study is today. The subject of climate change has taken
up a large part of the scientific and political discourse among American lawmakers and citizens
since the late 1980s and as a result NASAs role as a research institution has been redefined.
Declining planetary funding and growing scientific interest in the Earth's climate caused
planetary scientists to start studying the Earth. It was closer, and much less expensive, to do
research on. And NASA followed suit, starting to plan for an Earth observing system aimed at
questions of global change (NASA.gov). While space research continues to be a major part of
NASAs mission, the American agency now utilizes its resources to conduct and promote
climate research by launching satellites. This shift within NASA has facilitated a shift in the
priorities of the American public. Where grandiose plans for moon colonies and asteroid mining
once dominated public discourse on the future of scientific progress, ideas and methods for
preserving and protecting our own planet have taken root. Americans have progressively become

more environmentally conscious than they were in preceding decades and this is reflected in
everything from the observable growth in hybrid and electric car sales to the development and
proliferation of renewable energy resources.
Since the founding of NASA in 1957, Americans have experienced radical shifts in their
perception of space exploration. What was once a program committed to taking humanity
beyond the confines of our home planet, has now made way for cheaper and more efficient
unmanned exploration, resulting in a more cooperative and integrated global astronomical
community. Along the way, a secondary shift occurred, redefining NASAs role from a program
focused on exploring our solar system, to one committed to research on climate change and
planetary preservation. Future generations of Americans will have to make a choice: to either
continue to promote conservation of our celestial home or to once again reach for the stars.

Works Cited
Moltz, James C. "3 CIVIL SPACE: Science and Exploration." Crowded Orbits: Conflict and
Cooperation in Space. New York: Columbia UP, 2014. 59-90. Web.
Peters, Gerhard, and John T. Woolley. "Richard Nixon: Telephone Conversation With the
Apollo 11 Astronauts on the Moon." The American Presidency Project. University of
California: Santa Barbara, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.
"Taking a Global Perspective on Earth's Climate." NASA Global Climate Change. NASA.gov,
n.d. Web.
Zubrin, Robert. "Getting Space Exploration Right." The New Atlantis No. 8 (2005): 15-48.
JSTOR. Web. 25 Nov. 2015.