The Role that JPL Played in the Creation of America’s First Satellite and My Talk with One of the Rocket Girls
By Dana Herman (SMHS ‘20)
In my Honors US History class, I learned much about the Cold War and when done with this learning, my teacher encouraged me to search the internet for evidence of the Cold War within 50 miles of the school. He then encouraged me to describe my findings in a Local-History Blog Post.
In the Local-History Blog Post that appears below, I describe the role that Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory played in the creation of Explorer 1, the first satelllite ever launched by the U.S. I also describe how the creation and launching of Explorer 1 marked the beginning of something called the Cold War’s Space Race.
Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is located six miles from the school.
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In my Honors U.S. History class textbook this past year, I learned about something called the Cold War.
The textbook describes the Cold War as “a fifty-year period of post World War II tension between the United States and communist countries; one of which being the Soviet Union.”
After providing this definition of the Cold War, the textbook describes how during the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed to extend their political and economic influence. In that description, the textbook claims that the Soviet Union was the first to take action with the launch of Sputnik, “the first successful artificial space satellite” in 1957. This, the textbook says “sparked what became known as the space race.”
The textbook then points out how the U.S. goverment, “shocked at the triumph of Soviet technology, began pouring money in a space program of their own . . . and on January 31, 1958, launched America’s first satellite: Explorer 1.”
The textbook closes out the section on the Cold War by describing how, besides the space race, the Cold War was marked by a nuclear arms race, a prolonged war with various Asian countries, the Cuban Missile crisis, the Berlin Blockade and the intensified work of spies and how on December 3, 1989, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met with President George Bush aboard a Soviet ship in Malta’s Marsaxlokk harbor, a meeting which led to a diplomatic ending of on the Cold War.
Given what I learned about the Cold War, I decided to search the internet for an example of the Cold War within fifty miles of my school. In this regard I learned about the role that Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory played in the construction of Explorer 1.
JPL’s Role in the Explorer 1 Mission
Following the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik 1(the world’s first artificial satellite) on October 4, 1957, the US government gave Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) the chance to create America’s first artificial satellite.
Founded in the 1930s, JPL is currently owned by NASA and managed by the nearby California Institute of Technology (Caltech) for NASA.
From the time of its founding it’s been viewed as “a place where science, technology, and engineering intermix in unique ways: to produce iconic robotic space explorers sent to every corner of the solar system, to peer deep into the Milky Way galaxy and beyond, and to keep a watchful eye on our home planet.”
In charge of executing the daunting task of building and operating America’s first artificial satellite was Dr. William H. Pickering, Dr. James van Allen, and Dr. Wernher van Braun (each of whom can be seen in the photograph below).
Together, each of these three men represent a separate component of Explorer 1: the satellite, the rocket, and the science payload.
Dr. William H. pickering was JPL’s director during the Cold War. Under his guidance, the lab produced the mission’s satellite. Recruited by Dr. Pickering, Dr. James van Allen was in charge of developing the scientific payload, in this case a cosmic ray detector. Lastly, Dr. van Allen’s acquaintance Dr. Braun was responsible for the development of the rocket that would launch the satellite and payload into space.
After a mere three months of construction, Explorer 1 was complete. The satellite measured a total of 80 inches and weighed 30.66 pounds.
On January 31, 1958, the rocket containing Explorer 1 was launched into space at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
The mission — whose goal was to measure measure the radiation environment in Earth orbit — ended on May 31, 1958. By the time the satellite burned in Earth’s atmosphere in 1970, it had completed more than 58,000 orbits around the planet.
Rise of the Rocket Girls
Inspired by my research into Explorer 1, I decided to read Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us From Missiles To The Moon To Mars, a book by Nathalia Holt that told the stories of some of NASA’s first female employees.
The book gave the backgrounds of each featured woman and their journey that lead them to a career in mathematics and engineering. The women also reminisced on the projects they worked on while at JPL
To me, this book represents an act of courage. These women worked in one of the most challenging fields in a time were a working mother was relatively unheard of. They helped open doors for future generations of females by proving that women can indeed do “a man’s work.”
My Talk with One of the Rocket Girls
After having read Rise of the Rocket Girls, I told my parents about my interest in the Explorer 1 mission. Both being JPL employees, they told me of a woman whom they believed may have worked at JPL since the time of the Cold War.
They soon put me in touch with Susan Finley, one of the women featured in the book Rise of the Rocket Girls and currently NASA’s longest serving female employee. Thus, I arranged a meeting with Ms. Finley at JPL’s Von Karman Museum.
SOURCES
Danzer, Gerald A. The Americans: Reconstruction to the 21st Century. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2015.
Dunbar, Brian. “A Moment in Time: Explorer 1.” NASA, NASA, 24 Jan. 2018, www.nasa.gov/exploration/whyweexplore/Why_We_28.html.
“Explorer-I and Jupiter-C.” NASA, NASA, history.nasa.gov/sputnik/expinfo.html.
Loff, Sarah. “Explorer 1 Overview.” NASA, NASA, 18 Mar. 2015, www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/explorer/explorer-overview.html.
“Explorer 1.” NASA, NASA, www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/explorer-1/.
ACADEMIC HONESTY STATEMENT
I declare that this work is my own work and that we have correctly acknowledged the work of others. I further declare that this work is in accordance with SMHS Academic Honesty Policy and its guidance on good academic conduct and how to avoid plagiarism and other assessment irregularities.
- Dana Herman
