Alphin C. Tom

"Life [is] a culmination of the past, an awareness of the present, an indication of a future beyond knowledge, the quality that gives a touch of divinity."

Origins Like all historical events, the birth of NASA must be placed in the context of its times. Following World War II, the United States was in direct competition with the Soviet Union (the superpower that in 1991 disbanded into several sovereign nations including the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, the Ukraine, etc.) for the hearts and minds of people around the world. It was not for the most part a shooting war, but a "Cold War," a test of two very different systems of government. Technology was one means of measuring success and projecting power, and nothing was more powerful than the intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) being developed in the wake of World War II to deliver warheads. It was these missiles that brought human technology to the brink of space, and it was the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik on Oct. 4, 1957, that first put an object into orbit around Earth. Passing overhead with its faint radio signal as people watched and li