Satellite

Satellite comes from the Latin word satelles, which means attendant. It is used to describe an object that moves in orbit around a planet; for example, a moon would be a satellite, a natural satellite.

An artificial satellite is a humanly manufactured object that is sent out into space to orbit a celestial body, for example, the many satellites we have sent out into orbit either to transmit data to and from our computer systems around the surface of the Earth to or to collect information as they orbit other planets. It almost seems like artificial satellites have taken over the sky. The count I found suggested that there are at least 3000 various artificial satellites that are in orbit around the earth and they have many uses. They are used for telecommunication, weather observation, and navigation, and particularly for military intelligence and support.

Russia launched the world’s first artificial satellite into orbit in 1957 and thus began the scramble between superpower nations for domination of space. At the time there was what was called a Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union, marked by an extreme difference in ideals between the two empires. Communism was pegged against capitalism and free enterprise, atheism came against a belief in God. The Cold War was not a literal war, it was a cold-hearted relationship of mistrust and suspicion that made the two superpowers arch enemies based upon politics and religion. It was a conflict that was seen played out, not only in the race for space, but in some major world events.

There was the Berlin Blockade, where Soviets blocked streets and railroads in order to gain military control of the City of Berlin. The USA sent in airlifts to keep the Germans free of Soviet control.

Then there was the Korean War. When North Korea launched an invasion of the South the Soviet Union and the United States intervened. The Soviets backed the North and the US backed the South, superpowers fighting for ideals on foreign soil.

There was also the Cuban Missile Crisis, a major confrontation between Communist Russia and Free America, one that threatened the world with all out nuclear war, something that never happened.

The opposing ideas of Communism and Capitalism, police state control and personal freedom, censorship of the press and freedom of speech, polarized the two entities who found themselves in conflict and feeling the need to technologically advance faster than the other, fearing that the success of the other technologically could be their own demise. So, it was not small thing that of Russia launched their first satellite, Sputnik, into orbit. Almost immediately, President Dwight D. Eisenhower passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, (1958) creating an organization called NASA, (the North American Space Association,) and set their sites on space.

Both the Soviet program, now called the Rossiyskoe Kosmicheskoye Agentsvo, meaning Russian Space Agency (RKA) and NASA had acquired the ability to build and launch satellites into orbit, and both superpowers wondered what step of superiority would be next on the other's agenda. Both countries believed that some sort of war weapon, offense or defense would be necessary to protect their ideology and power from being lost. Both countries had spies trying to outsmart the smarts of the other, and both countries expected missiles of mass destruction to be aimed at them perspectively, from the birds eye advantage of satellites in space. Over time, the US and Russia supposedly laid down their arms against one another and began working cooperatively towards common ends.

On US soil, Strategic Air Command, dissolved; in Soviet Russia, a political coupe created a more democratic government. The Cold War has ended, and satellite systems and international cooperation has paved the way for new endeavors. Planning to avoid all future wars, Russia, the United States, Japan Canada and Europe, the whole world has created a long-term agreement of partnership in space through the Space Station Intergovernmental Agreement, (IGA) and the Internationals Space Station, (ISS.)

Not long ago, one could look into the night sky and see nothing but stars, but since the launching of manmade satellites, there are over 3000 satellites which pass through the night time sky. These satellites, providing communication, weather information and military observation to the world have changed the way we see things, life on earth, even the way we see the stars.

It is to our benifit or to our ultimate demise that our own man made creation is what we see when we look to the heavens and we marvel at ourselves and our technological advances? Satellites have certainly changed the natural world around us but they have changed the way we see not only the the nighttime sky, the world, the stars at night, but also the way we "see"everything, especially, the way we see ourselves.