PART II: The mid-1950s Through 1964
Applied Science
It was the 1950s, and science permeated life. We got vaccinated for polio in school. The papers, radio, and TV constantly used words like nuclear. There were A-bombs and H-bombs, nuclear warheads, and nuclear fallout. Controlled fission was going to generate clean energy for our homes. It already was powering submarines, which soon would be able to launch missiles armed with thermonuclear warheads. Republic and Grumman were nearby, developing supersonic aircraft to play critical roles in the next, presumably nuclear, war. Once in a while sonic booms rattled our windows to remind us of that.
The Arms Race begat a Space Race. America knew a lot about building missiles that could carry explosives across the globe. Now it was trying to lever that knowledge to make rockets that carried people straight up. The transition proved far from easy.
During our final year in elementary school, Sputniks won the first two heats of the race. In Florida, Vanguard rockets (designed explicitly to launch America's first satellite) repeatedly failed. Even after those Sputniks had reached orbit, a Vanguard attained an unimpressive liftoff of 3'11." Its satellite was thrown clear of the wreckage; it bounced and rolled like a pink Spaldeen, valiantly emitting radio signals that told of its epic flight.
Americans were told that the Vanguard's abominable record was due to its being "too advanced." They got the message: our engineers did not yet know enough about what they were attempting. The country was feeling uneasy.
Dec 1957: Satellite TV-3 is thrown clear
of another Vanguard explosion
National Air and Space Museum photo
published in Vogue, 1 Nov 1955
oldcarandtruckpictures.com
Not every scientific development was met with instant failure or success. Tappan's Radarange - the first commercial microwave oven - had been sold since 1946, but largely was ignored by the public. A decade later, Chrysler introduced a push-button automatic transmission. Drivers found it hard to use for parking, when their eyes quickly moved around, looking everywhere except at the small button cluster on the dashboard.
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