Comments by "Keit Hammleter" (@keithammleter3824) on "Spark" channel.

  1. This video misses an important aspect of the decision to stop the USAF space research programme and go for a civilian outfit, NASA. At the time, the USAF space programme was proceeding in steady relatively low risk progress. But Eisenhower wanted a civilian programme for two reasons:- a) he didn't want the Russians to think it was all about miliary might; b) military programmes inherently involve secrecy. By making it a civilian programme, everything that NASA did could be public domain much like university research, which is shared, and advances industry. The impact of NASA on technology has been immense - just about everything electronic in the home today has technology enabled by research outcomes driven by NASA. Of course, the Sputnik programme was essentially a civilian, non-military thing too - at least to the degree possible in the USSR. One of the best, most outstanding decisions Eisenhower made. Von Braun at NASA liked big vertical lift rockets and big newsworthy breakthroughs. The USAF liked steady incremental improvements and re-usable craft like the X-15. Hence if Eisenhower hadn't decided to create NASA, aerospace today would probably be very different.
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  2. Never heard of it? That's ridiculous. The scriptwriter must be some present day young person who knows nothing about anything. When the Soviets put the first Sputnik into orbit, they frightened the heck of the Americans, woke up most of the world, and the space race was on. Hence the Mercury and Gemini flights were heavily reported on and there was great interest among all the public. High schools, as did mine, had rocket clubs inspired by NASA. In our case, the "mission" was to launch a camera to a great height, have it take a picture of the school campus, and return the camera to the ground so we could develop the film. Quite a number of teenagers were involved in one way or another.
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