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English 212, section 16 -- Topics in Critical Writing--Bablyon 5: Envisioning the Future

Our look at the future will be in various modes. We will do some research on the future, watch shows that depict the future, read about the future, and envision the future as presented by what we have read, seen, and imagined about it.

NASA :: space race :: cold war :: space exploration :: galaxy

NASA PDF (36 KB)

Space Race

Ken Lange, Megan McClure, Deedra Ketelhut, and Michelle Weiss

• The Space Race began in 1957, when the Soviet Union launched the first artificial Earth Satellite, named Sputnik.
• “Sputnik” is the Russian word for “Traveler.”
• The Race was between The Soviet Union and The United States of America.
• United States launched their first satellite in 1958, named Explorer I.
• The Soviet Union launches Luna 2, which was the first space probe to hit the moon.
• In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut orbits the Earth. Also in the same year Alan Shepard Jr. becomes the first American Astronaut in Space.
• In 1962, John Glenn, Jr. Becomes the first American Astronaut to orbit the Earth.
• In 1968, The United States launches Apollo 8, the first manned space mission to orbit the moon.
• In 1969, United States Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin “buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins make it to the moon. Armstrong is the first man to walk on the moon and was followed by Buzz Aldrin.

Cold War

Matt M.
Megan M.
Angela K.
Rachelle R.

It is very hard to put a date on when the Cold War actually started. It finished when the Soviet Union collapsed, because new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began his reform program.

"Cold War is the conflict between the Communist nations led by the Soviet Union and the democratic nations led by the United States. It is fought by all means- propaganda, economic war, diplomatic haggling and occasional military clashes. It is fought in all places- in neutral states, in newly independent nations in Africa, Asia and even in outer space.

The historians have so far not reached any agreement on the time in which the Cold War began. It is, however, quite safe to say that since 1947 when President Truman of the United States declared an anti-communist policy, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union begun." (www.thecorner.org)

The Cold War was a turbulent time between the U.S. and Soviet Union, which were both super powers and former allies. The main U.S. allies were Western Europe, Turkey, Japan, and Canada. The Soviet allies were Eastern Europe and China. By 1947 the term" cold war" was introduced by Americans Bernard Baruch and Walter Lippmann to describe the tensions between the two former wartime allies. Tension led to nuclear arms race, costly defense spending and proxy wars. There was never any direct military engagement. Which means it never turned into a real physical World War.

The Cold War was a rough time for the Soviet Union, toilet paper was considered a luxury, and one person even stated that he wasn't able to buy more than two pairs of shoes a year, and per month no more than a certain amount of meant, butter, sugar. In the United States, segregation between the races was the norm, with African Americans relegated to second-class status.

Space exploration PDF (64 KB)

Galaxy PDF (44 KB)