[music]
Speaker: Instruments on spacecraft are the extension of our senses. Our aim
is to understand the forces of nature that shape man’s
environment. [music]
Kupperian, Jr.: With the Goddard Telescope in space, we can sample
radiations emitted from within our own galaxy. With the OAO
man will go a long way toward solving the mystery of
the creation of matter. Speaker: NIMBUS,
research and development craft studying advanced techniques
and concepts for meteorological Earth observations.
[music] Speaker: For years, some of the best engineering brains in the country
have been building and improving this communications network to its present
state of performance. NASCOM, NASA Communications.
[music]
Speaker: Weather, communications, Earth resources,
these will be among the main topics for dialogue in the 1970s.
[music]
Speaker: At Goddard Space Flight Center at Greenbelt, Maryland, the Operations Control
Center monitors the spacecraft’s flight night and day,
watching every element of its operation. Speaker: We in the
space sciences look from planet Earth to
our solar system, to the far reaches of the universe.
[music] Mather: The Cosmic Background Explorer satellite has been
designed to study the cosmic background radiation, which we think is the remnant
of the primeval explosion 15 billion years ago. [music]
Mather: What the COBE will tell us at the end
of the mission and after our interpretations are done is how
we got here. How the galaxies were formed from whatever was there before.
[music] Olivier: The Hubble Telescope
is the most fantastic telescope ever built. It’s not
just good, it’s the best. [beep, radio] Discovery, go for Hubble
release. Broome: There’s a significant spherical aberration
appears to be present in the optics, in the optical telescope. Leckrone: Right now it’s looking
very, very good that we’ve accomplished all we needed to accomplish for
the correction of HST, and that’s good news
for astronomy. [music, cheering]
Mikulski: The trouble with Hubble is over. We have here
a picture taken of the image of a star
with the new— Parkinson: The system is
so intertwined. Shepard: Now our ability to assess and predict
climate change depends on our ability to model climate and weather change.
Mumma: One problem we’re working on here is the origin of life in other places.
[cheering, music]
Simnett: This CME that’s just started off here—
Bennett: We’ve determined the age of the universe is 13.7 billion
years old. Wiseman: What’s the next step for the planet-finding quest?
Peddie: We wanted to go back and explore the universe, and really the natural first step
for us is to go back to the moon. Eigenbrode: If Mars could ever have
supported life, and if it did, what happened to it? Christian: Really
want to know where the edge of the solar system is.
What’s out there? What’s out beyond the solar system? McEnery: By being able to make
observations of the universe in the highest energy form of light,
we get a very different picture. Young: It’s giving us a 24-hour a day, 7-day
a week view of the Sun with unprecedented resolution.
Garvin: It’s important to recognize why space matters. And why exploring near us
on planet Earth is really significant. This is where we will go.
Speaker: The moment of launch is thrilling and important.
Peddie: This is the moment we've all been waiting for all these years.
[music] Speaker: But the great moment, for those who have worked so long
and so well, comes after a successful orbit.
Parker: There we go. [music]
Straughn: It’s a testament to what humans can do when they’re working to
do something big. Something that’s beyond your own self. Gehrels: Every day I
think about this delicate instrumentation in the harsh
environment orbiting the Earth and how it’s able to keep going all
those years. Thaller: Although I’m a scientist, and of course, I understand what’s going
on, it really doesn’t prepare you for how beautiful these things are.
Fatoyinbo: I love going into the field, I love making new discoveries.
Sellers: There’s no reason why our future shouldn’t be better than our past.
So I’m optimistic as long as we get on with it. Scolese: And it’s because of your
intelligence, your experience, your dedication, that
Goddard has been successful, and I know that’s why we’re going to be successful in the future.
Clark: In these tasks, we at Goddard will penetrate even further into the
distances and mysteries of the universe and of Earth.
[click, music]
[music, static sound]