IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 10

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University's astronomy department. "We are not alone in the
universe," declared Callimahos.
We also documented the birth of a slew of space technologies
that would prove to be decades ahead of their time. For example, the May 1965 issue described a test model of an inflatable
module intended for large space stations; not until 2006 would
an actual inflatable space station module prototype reach orbit. Similarly, a
January 1967 feature laid out the case
While the
for laser-based deep-space commudazzle and
nications, but it wasn't until January
spirit of
2013 that the first such transmission
the Apollo
was successfully received.
program
All good things come to an end. After
are gone,
the United States won the moon race,
the space
interest waned and funding dwindled.
business
Two months after the moon landing,
is fizzing
Vice President Spiro Agnew's Space Task
again with
Group recommended the immediate detechnological
velopment of a nuclear rocket engine; a
ferment
series of space stations of increasing size;
a reusable space shuttle; and an ambitious unmanned exploration program beyond the moon and Mars.
But Spectrum's editors sensed that the good times were over. "The
electronics industry and others with a stake in space should be kept
plenty busy...if President Nixon applies the necessary follow-through
and Congress is agreeable," wrote Spectrum (and that skeptical
ellipsis is in the original text).
By December 1970, slashed budgets had translated into an unemployment crisis; an article noted how the U.S. Department of
Labor was trying to find aerospace engineers jobs in other fields.
Spectrum's space coverage shifted from preparations for permanent
lunar outposts and Mars missions to communications satellites.
Though it ended in 1972, the Apollo lunar program will never be
forgotten. Here at Spectrum, in 1994, we marked the 25th anniversary of the first moon landing with a comprehensive chronicle by
contributing editor Dave Dooling. The supplement featured interviews with a who's who of the engineers who made it happen. In
2005, for the 35th anniversary of the Apollo 13 crisis, I interviewed
many of the mission controllers who helped bring the crew home
alive, and unearthed a few new details in a special report.
And while the dazzle and spirit of the Apollo program are
gone, the space business is at last fizzing again with technological ferment. Spectrum associate editor Rachel Courtland and
I find ourselves covering the advent of a new era in spaceflight.
It's led by scrappy commercial newcomers like SpaceX, Virgin
Galactic, and Skybox Imaging, and it's spurred on by competitions such as the Google Lunar X Prize. These ventures and
contests are forging a new paradigm for space exploration. If it
succeeds, we may get those moon bases and missions to Mars
one day after all. -stephen Cass

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum July, 2014