Here at the cosmosphere cente site that preserved horsedrawn vehicle manufacturing facility then in 2000 moved here to the cosmosphere. Did not have a one bit of understanding of Space Exploration when i started here so early on Read Everything i could and today really enjoy early man Space Exploration. So for those of you who havent been to the cosmosphere. That mission was 60 years old yesterday. And so i had a big celebration but here today to talk about eisenhowers role in developing nasa. A lot of people dont really understand the role. The eisenhowers development of the creation of nasa. So i think its an incredibly important topic and the development of nasa something that obviously still resonates today as Space Exploration continues. To go forward but before nasa started the first entity that had oversight of aeronautics in this country was the naca the National Advisory council for aeronautics. It was developed in 1915 luminaries such as the Wright Brothers were part of that initial group, and it was developed to determine or look at how the United States could develop aeronautics coming out of world war one europe had superior air power and so the soldiers in generals that were over there saw this and so the naca was initially developed to look at creating superior air power continued to grow and develop in terms of its exploration and oversight of aeronautics some of the significant programs such as the x15 were done under the auspices of the naca. So the naca was the precursor to nasa so, how do we get started . Well . We it really started with the launch of sputnik, october 4th 1957. Sputnik was really the first shot across the bow. It was what . Led this country to recognize that there was a space race if you could go to the the next slide samantha. And the two individuals responsible during that period of time where Sergei Koralov the chief designer on the soviet side and then warner von brown the chief designer on the us side coral off was the one who was intimately responsible for getting the soviets up first. It wasnt until after his death that become the world knew who sergei corp was the soviets kept his identity closely guarded for fear of assassination on the other hand warner von. Brown was widely known in fact, he appeared many times with walt disney on various disney shows von brown immigrated to the United States. He was a former nazi commander he was responsible for the development of the v2 during world war ii strategically surrendered to the United States and then came to the United States to begin working on rockets that would ultimately get a human to moon. Next slide please. So october 4th 1957. That was the start of the space race if you could go to the next slide. So prior to this each country the the former soviet union in the United States were working on their own individual programs, but when sputnik went up and they scored that first it was a huge blow to the the american psyche and the american ideology. I and right away as soon as that launched the race to the moon was on it was a race between two countries, but it was a race between two countries that possessed. Different technology, but technology, that would not only achieve. Space exploration first, but also was developed for military uses as well. Next slide so initially during the outset of the space race eisenhowers lessons during world war ii using propaganda and psychology to influence the allies. He saw how effective psychological warfare if you will propaganda was at. Helping the allies understand the successes. So eisenhowers stood that utilizing propaganda and psychology would begin to influence on the american psyche at home as well as the psyche of those democracies across the country that were allies the United States. Um, was understood that. Through propaganda and psychological warfare if you will. That each country could allow its followers to understand what was happening, but more importantly to influence. This was a space race, but it was also a race between two different political ideologies. You had the communists on one side democracy on the other side and both countries felt that through achieving first through utilizing psychology and propaganda. They could potentially influence other countries, but more importantly could show that their chosen form of government was superior if soviets achieved first khrushchev could use that to say that communism is superior over democracy. If us achieves first Eisenhower Administration, can you utilize that to show that democracy is superior over communism . The 1957 launch of sputnik was a huge blow to the american psyche, but one thing that that didnt take place that was false was. Some thought at the time that the us became instantly concerned of a attack from the soviets the eisenhowers knew that the soviets possessed the engineering the rocketry capable of reaching the United States, but didnt fear a larger Nuclear Attack because they knew the soviets did not have the technology. That would allow for pinpoint accuracy. So while a nuclear and icbm could potentially reach the United States it would not have been an accurate attack. So. The theory out there that the United States at that time was fearful of a large attack. Excuse me was just not something that the eisenhowers ministration believed. So the soviets quickly score the second first in november of 1957 the soviets launched the first living creature into space with lack of the dog aboard the r7 rocket. So they have now achieved two firsts sputnik 1 the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. And then sputnik 2 places like a into orbit becoming the first living creature to go into orbit. And at this point in time, we havent even gotten off the ground yet so quickly out of the gate within a matter of months the soviets achieved two quick victories. And go to the next slide. At this point in time while the soviets are achieving first. There are competing programs here in the United States. There is competition between the army and the navy both branches of the military are working on their own space initiatives. Neither one are working in conjunction with the other both are independent and they were both working to develop their own Space Program. The navy was working on the Vanguard Program. The army was working on the redstone program and neither were doing so with the other. So the competing military branches was probably one of the primary factors to why the us hadnt achieved firsts from a technological and an engineering perspective. We possessed the ability to reach space as early as 1955. But because we had two branches competing against each other. There was no concerted effort at this point in time eisenhower allowed both branches to continue to work on these boosters the rockets that would ultimately get into space. He didnt see the need to bring in or to bring the agency underneath one public entity. Next slide so our first attempt to launch a satellite was vanguard. This was a navy program. December 6 1957 i shortly after the liftoff of vanguard as you can see in the images the rocket exploded the press had a field day with this calling it flop nick could put nick stay put nick obviously referencing the sputnik achievements so within three months we suffer three embarrassments sputnik once sputnik 2 and then the explosion of vanguard so our track record is on shaky ground. Unfortunately, the us is out of the blocks very slowly in the race to space. Next slide so finally the us gets in the game explore one becomes our first satellite to go up into space. This was overseeing by warner von brown as well as jpl jet propulsion laboratory. Explorer was launched aboard a jupiter rocket. After the failure of vanguard von brown went to eisen the eisenhowers station. s that the redstone program be given a chance to prove their capabilities. Initially the eisenhowers reluctant but because of the failure of vanguard allowed bound brown and his team to proceed. What the eisenhowers station probably didnt realize at the time was that. Underneath the army at the Redstone Arsenal in huntsville, alabama von brown and his team of rocket scientists had been perfecting the redstone rocket. Von brown made some tweaks to the redstone rocket and then changed its name to jupiter. Then utilizing the technology that had already been developed 90 days after the launch of vanguard. Von browns jupiter rocket with explorer one lifts off and one of the discoveries from the explorer one satellite was the van allen radiation belts. And thats von brown after the explorer one success with president eisenhowers eisenhowers office. Go ahead to the next slide. So at this time the eisenhowers begins to understand the need to create an agency that would have oversight for Space Exploration. A lot of people felt that the october 4th 1957 launch of sputnik was what led the eisenhowers creating an agency, but in fact eisenhower and his administration had been contemplating that prior to the launch of sputnik. They knew that the soviets possessed the capability the technology to launch a satellite in space. They just didnt know when it was going to happen and eisenhower began to think about the merits of having an agency that oversaw the exploration of space. So in a joint address to congress, april 2nd of 1958 eisenhowers about the importance of Space Exploration and the need for an agency to oversee the development of our rockets and the program in general. Next slide so in july of 29 1958. Both the senate and the house passed the resolution creating a new federal entity. And on july 29th 1958 eisenhowers signs into law the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration so the former naca is now folded into nasa. So nasa now is a Public AgencyGovernment Agency that has oversight for aeronautics. But it also has oversight for the fledgling Space Program. And is charged with the race to space next slide . So initially nasa is set up. In the old naca headquarters out at langley field. So the naca had been at langley since the 15 1915. And nasa began to operate from langley next slide, please. So heres some of the images of the original nasa headquarters, so it was initially a Space Task Group that oversight for the Space Program. And shortly after eisenhowers signed into law the creation of nasa, uh, nasa in the new agency got to work. So im october of 1958 the former naca and then the new nasa merge creating the Space Task Group and began to look how to get. The us into the game and to catch up with the russians. Next slide so by 1959 nasa had developed project mercury project mercury was going to be the program that got us human into space in april 9 of 1959 nasa introduces the mercury 7 the original seven astronauts that were going to be responsible for getting a capsule pilot in capsule up into space and then returning it safely next slide. So the initially the Space Task Group was thinking that the original astronauts would need to be engineers phds people with an understanding of science and technology. Eisenhowers that the initial astronauts needed to be pilots more importantly they needed to be military pilots. And so the initial astronauts were from the several branches of the military and many of them were test pilots. And these seven were selected from a group of hundreds hundreds of applicants submitted their names to try and become one of the original seven. With each step that group was narrowed down they had to undergo tremendous testing both physical mental as well as and so all this testing was done and taking place. They also looked at background track record piloting abilities and when the original seven were introduced these seven were the best of the best not only incredible pilots, but very intelligent with strong engineering minds. Next slide so the original seven were going to go up and pilot america. Now the mercury unlike what we saw a couple days ago with the blue origin new shepherd was a piloted spacecraft. It wasnt your traditional stick and rudder, but it did have a joystick and it did have thrusters reaction thrusters that were controlled by the astronauts. The astronauts were in pressure suits in turn in case the internal environment depressurized. So the the challenges of mercury were to one try and determine what impact working in the backing of space the environment of space would have on the human body. Determine how to operate space both human and spacecraft and then to get a spacecraft and human into space and to return them both safely. And with one exception the missions of mercury perform flawlessly. The one exception was liberty bell 7, which upon splashdown the hatch blue prematurely and the spacecraft sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean where it resided for 38 years. Again, these were the best. Fearless at this point in time during the training for project mercury our launch success rate was only 39 so more times than not the rockets on the launch pad were exploding. In fact the last unmanned Mercury Mission to take place prior to alan shepard going up was mercury atlas one. This was done in 1960 and shortly after liftoff the atlas exploded yet. Only a few months later shepherd went up on top of that redstone and became the first us astronaut to reach space next slide. September 25th, 1959 khrushchev visits the eisenhowers washington and spends time with eisenhowers david at this point in time the soviets have scored the first and our head in the space race, but not by much but both khrushchev and eisenhowers saw each others rivals. This photo is of note because youll see in eisenhowers right hand a small sphere thats called the luna sphere and in fact is on display there at the eisenhower. Prior to getting humans into space both countries sent unmanned lunar pathfinders to the moon. On luna 2 the soviets sent their lunar pathfinder with that same type of sphere that is in eisenhowers hand and they called it the lunar calling card. So the idea was that this unmanned pathfinder. Would shoot this ball towards the surface of the moon. The ball was Spring Loaded and comprised of tiny medallions with the hammer and sickle and cccp on it. The idea was if the us were the first to land on the moon they would see these lunar calling cards and think the soviets had been there. Theres only three of these luna spheres that i know of left one obviously there at the eisenhowers here at the cosmosphere. So a really cool artifact. Next slide please. So even though an astronaut wasnt launched during the eisenhowers Eisenhower Administration was responsible for the development of the Mercury Program. That is obviously eisenhower on the left and then the first administrator of nasa dr. Keith glennon, and thats a meeting in the oval office in 1960. And while it was the Kennedy Administration that america would get a human into space. None of that would have been possible without the eisenhowers to the mid 50s when the eisenhowers station began to think about a satellite program. They began to think about a Space Program those wheels were set in motion. And while it was kennedy who challenged this country to get to the moon by the end of the decade. He did that in may of 1961. That wouldnt have been possible if the foundation hadnt already been laid by the by the eisenhower. Often when you hear about the Space Program or talk about the Space Program president. Kennedy has mentioned president johnson has mentioned even to some degree president nixon. But i will contend or contest that none of that would have been possible. Had it not been for eisenhowers his administration their foresight the understanding of the importance of nasa the understanding of the importance of the space race again, were talking about a space race. That is ideological political military as well as technological and with each step of the way the us is able to prove its superiority as long as it continues to grow and all of that came from the eisenhower so with that i will open it up for questions. Theres a lot of that happened with the eisenhowers of the Early Technology the early Agency Development was made possible people like gene kranz and glenn laney the original mercury 7. Luminaries in the history of Space Exploration. Were all brought into nasa during eisenhowers tenure in office. Start typing your chat your questions in the chat. But while theyre doing that i did have a question i just with your last. Your last statement you were talking about how . Eisenhowersnt necessarily get that full recognition for his contributions. Why do you think that is . Well, i personally, i think its its twofold one because kennedy laid down the he was the one responsible for challenging the country to get to the moon by the end of the decade for humans to set foot on the moon by the end of the end of the 60s. Also human Space Exploration took place during the kennedy and johnson and nixon administrations. So while astronauts and and cosmonauts didnt go up into space during the eisenhowers been possible without what eisenhowers and accomplished and so i think i think those things overshadow the creation of nasa at this time. Were into the cold war coming out of world war ii and the korean war. The us possesses incredible te