A New Red Star In Space

by Christopher G. Adamo

For anyone old enough to remember, October 4, 1957 is one of those dates that they can place exactly where they were and what they were doing as world-changing events unfolded. Like September 11, it carried with it an a sense of the surreal.

It was on that date that Americans, gathered around their radios to hear rebroadcasts of the eerie beeps being transmitted from Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite, orbited by an openly malign Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Cold War had left the limitations of earthly territorial boundaries and with appalling serenity was sailing silently and ominously through the skies above. Ever ready to maximize its displays of propaganda, the Soviet Union under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev incessantly lauded its stunning achievement, but only after orbit had been successfully accomplished under a tight lid of secrecy.

Despite any naïve hopes to the contrary, the Soviet conquest of near-space was not about expanding the scope of human understanding. And Khrushchev made only thinly veiled efforts to portray it as such. Rather, it was the crown jewel of a massive public relations campaign designed to prove the technological superiority and invincibility of Communism. For many, that point appeared in the short-term to be inarguable.

Furthermore, the blatantly militaristic goal of the Soviet space program was the ability to deliver nuclear warheads to American soil. Any lingering doubts, subsequent to the launching of Sputnik 1, were quickly put to rest upon the successful orbiting of the comparably enormous Sputnik 2, its total mass being in excess of a ton.

After some spectacular mishaps, America began its rebound only four months later with the successful launch of Explorer 1, a thirty-pound satellite placed into high orbit by a rather crude combination of a ballistic missile and multiple small field artillery rockets. In the next few years, while the Soviets frequently laid claim to several space “firsts”, America was not far behind. But with President John Kennedy's rousing speech of May 1961, committing the nation to a moon landing before the end of the decade, the tables began to turn on the USSR. Within only a few years it had been completely eclipsed by American technological might.

Considering that all this took place more than four decades ago, it might seem natural to trivialize last week's successful fourteen-orbit mission of “Taikonaut” Yang Lewei in the Chinese spacecraft Shenzhou 5. Furthermore, many nations, including the Chinese, have successfully orbited satellites during the intervening years. Forty-five years is, from a technological perspective, an enormous gap in time. But as it relates to the ebb and flow of history, and the rising and falling of empires, it is but the blink of an eye. Certainly, China's October 14, space venture did not affect America with any of the emotional impact of the events of October 1957 or September 2001. But perhaps it should have, and for many of the same reasons.

Some may bask in a false sense of security, owing to the fact that, as a result of the ‘60's moon race, our nation has benefited from a major “head start” in the field of space science. But Aesop's famed tortoise remains significant throughout the centuries for reasons that mainstream America now ignores at its own peril. Moreover, of far greater concern than current Chinese aeronautical abilities are their long-term goals, which appear as threatening as anything sought by the Soviets in their heyday of scientific and military progress.

In the short-term, last week's flight demonstrated the necessity for NASA to fix its problems. Just as the agency's pragmatism had to be purged in the wake of the Challenger disaster, so now does the infection of “political correctness,” need to be expunged from all levels of its operation. Though the agency still attempts to skirt the issue, it was “political correctness,” in the form of environmental extremism, which resulted in a change of materials that compromised the integrity of the shuttle system and ultimately doomed the Space Shuttle Columbia.

However, in the bigger picture it is not sufficient to simply remain one step ahead of the latest feats of the Chinese. America must commit itself to maintaining a technical and scientific advantage sufficient to neutralize or deflect any impending Chinese threat. For their “end game” lies not somewhere in the vast gulf of space, but across the waters of the Pacific Ocean, on the shores of North America.

Growing up during the turbulent decades of the ‘60's and ‘70's, Christopher  Adamo saw, to his dismay, the nation's moral foundations being destroyed  before his very eyes. But even then he was a staunch Conservative at heart,  and rejected outright the tenets of America's counterculture revolution.

 After a hitch in the Air Force, where he specialized in airborne  electro- optical systems, he pursued a career in the field of aerospace,  working for major defense contractors in California, Florida, and Colorado. But his career plans abruptly changed during the industry-wide downsizing that followed the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Presently he is working in the field of industrial instrumentation in the state of Wyoming. Concurrently, he has become involved in that state's political process, attending state GOP conventions as a delegate, and serving as a member of the Wyoming Republican Central Committee. He has also aided in the candidacies of local legislators and state senators, as well as a U.S. Senator and Congresswoman.

From 1993 to 1996, he edited and wrote for “The Wyoming Christian”, the state newsletter for Christian Coalition of Wyoming. During that period, he developed an acute awareness of the harm being done to Conservatism by liberal activists within the Republican Party as well as the Democrats. This remains a favorite theme of his articles, which now appear as a regular feature on GOPUSA.