The Home Front:
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn The Spectacular Is Now Commonplace THE morning of July 21 we watched on television that strapping young astronaut, Vergil Grissom, travel more than 5,000...
...In the old days there used to be a decent interval between great discoveries, a period to think things over and take them in...
...We could also have a thorough understanding as to the rights to our unearthly discoveries and claims...
...THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn The Spectacular Is Now Commonplace THE morning of July 21 we watched on television that strapping young astronaut, Vergil Grissom, travel more than 5,000 miles an hour, burst out of the earth's atmospheric envelope and then float quickly down to be picked up out of the Atlantic Ocean...
...Within 10 years our entire outlook on life and the universe in which we live may be greatly altered...
...Then, the United Nations could control an outer space authority with sufficient funds to effectively run this great enterprise...
...This is daydreaming, of course...
...With a second Russian just back from a trip in outer space, the international cycle continues...
...To master the threatening future, we all need a much clearer picture of the past...
...Those who protest that such progress is useless, senseless and a waste of money and energy, can have little effect...
...The danger of imperialistic claims would thereby be avoided in advance, and progress could take place more rapidly...
...True, I stand before the screen astounded, but to my eightyear-old nephew, Rickie, sub-orbital flights are almost a matter of routine...
...steam power was discovered and brought factories, railways and steamships...
...Some knowledgeable insiders even suggest the trip to the moon will take place within the next five years...
...It is in accord with the most fundamental drives of human nature...
...It is constantly dinned into our ears that our young people must be taught science...
...Fighting men preparing to destroy an enemy have always played a large part in important discoveries and inventions...
...The competitive nature of the international effort to conquer space is unfortunate...
...It often seemed that new devices followed so fast on each other's heels that it was impossible to keep up with them...
...It would be a fine thing to get our statement into print before they publish theirs...
...The Russians send a man around the earth and we quickly follow by sending two men outside the air envelope...
...I suppose all this got started with Roger Bacon and the invention of gunpowder back in the 13th century...
...But I do want to make two modest proposals which are more realistic: First, I suggest that we declare before the world our peaceful intentions and proclaim that we have no designs on outer space but to add to the common weal of the human community...
...After our ancestors began to get ideas and thought up a more efficient way of killing people than with spears and arrows, there was no rest...
...This is, after all, only human, and is no reason to complain...
...Then, beginning with the second half of the 19th century, came the insensate speedup: the telegraph, the telephone, the automobile, the airplane, atomic power...
...My second suggestion is that we pay more attention to the American educational system...
...This is true, but I maintain there is an equal necessity of teaching them about the past, of our history and the history of others...
...Achievements in the sciences have always owed a lot to war...
...Imagine how beautifully and usefully space projects could be managed if the greatest nations were friendly...
...Unless humanity is shattered by a senseless clash, the ventures into space will go on and on, until in the end our descendants will be hopping from planet to planet...
...Nothing but a world-destroying war can prevent this breakthrough...
...A landing on the moon will be the culmination of more than 500 years of human history...
...The Russians are already talking about this matter...
...Ever since childhood I have been hearing people speak of our time as the age of invention and progress...
...In fact, the whole process, count-down and all, has become familiar, almost commonplace...
...The Chinese, of course, messed around with explosives long before that, but their discoveries did us neither good nor harm...
...For a long time change was slow, but it was relentless...
...Gunpowder was constantly improved...
...All of the practical applications of modern chemistry and physics have left man breathless—but triumphant...
...Before we enter into this new chapter of history, however, our educators should give American youth an opportunity to understand the past...
...Now we hardly have time to get used to atomic power before we are confronted with a rocket capable of boosting a capsule through the earth's atmosphere...
...Whatever the motive, however, it is clear that we shall soon be sending astronauts around the world and off to the moon...
...Our main motive at present is doubtless the urge to beat the Russians...
...Now, as often in the past, we are pushed on to further scientific advance by international rivalry...
...Alan Shepard's May 5 flight was duplicated, step by step, almost word for word...
Vol. 44 • August 1961 • No. 30
