I’m writing this as I watch President Obama deliver his State of the Union speech and I’m angry.
I’m angry because of an error the President made. It’s a historical error. Obama got it wrong and I can’t believe no one in his huge staff spotted it -- so I have to assume the President intentionally perpetuated the myth to make a point. However, I believe no matter how important or correct that point might be, ultimately it is flawed if the history used to praise it is incorrect.
The error involves Sputnik, the first artificial satellite mankind placed in orbit around our planet. Remember it? It was a big deal at the time. In his speech, Obama (who wasn’t born at the time) recalled how America’s wounded pride triggered an explosion of new technology and spending on science education that enabled the country to regain the lead in technology within a decade.
But that’s not what happened. Recently declassified documents reveal that we were capable of launching a satellite into orbit two years before the Soviets did it but President Eisenhower ordered them not to launch. He had a plan.
You see, Ike was obsessed by intelligence gathering. After all, he was a general. He knew the era of human intelligence gathering was almost over and he knew that it was only a matter of time before a high-flying American U-2 spy plane gathering information about the Soviet Union was shot down (as one eventually was on May 1,1960). But Ike had a backup: the first U.S. spy satellites were on the drawing boards and ready to go.
But it was important we lose this race because, with artificial satellites almost a reality, there was no treaties or international law defining how high a nation’s air space extended. The Soviets could declare a satellite in orbit that went over their borders was spying and shoot it down. And they would have had a good case. Earlier they had rejected Eisenhower's proposal for a "Open Skies" treaty.
But someone on Ike’s staff came up with a great idea. Why not let the Soviets do it first. Then, when it went over our borders 100 miles up, we keep our mouths shut. Our inaction would determine the law. "Open Skies" it was. How brilliant!
And that is exactly what happened. The Army was finally given the go-ahead to try their satellite and a few months after Sputnik was launched Van Braun and his Germans put Explorer into orbit using a military rocket that had was based on Nazi V-2s, fitted with added stages and routinely flying for us for years. Ike never cared about any space race other than one which would give him his spy capabilities. Just before he left office he got what he wanted -- the first spy satellite and tons of great intelligence that told him -- and presidents to come -- how far ahead we were of the Soviet military.
And the Soviets never caught up, mostly because early on they made a critical error and believed that their spy satellites had to be manned. That made them very expensive machines that couldn’t provide the kind of quality pictures the spy masters needed. Incidentally, we also had a manned space spy program but it was killed by the Nixon administration before it got off the ground. That was probably a good thing too, because we now know that the Soviet manned spy satellite that was in orbit and manned for several years, was equipped with a cannon that was capable of killing another satellite. It did, in fact, destroy a dummy rocket the Soviets launched in a test. The proposed U.S. manned spy satellites were to be unarmed.
Well, the President has just finished and I’m not so mad anymore. Maybe this will eventually help to set the record straight.
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