WEBVTT FILE

1
00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:04.010
[Music] The universe appears

2
00:00:04.030 --> 00:00:08.050
to be infinite, but starting from his tiny

3
00:00:08.070 --> 00:00:12.070
dot in one corner of the Milky Way, man is beginning

4
00:00:12.090 --> 00:00:16.100
his conquest of it. [Music]

5
00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:20.120
[Music]

6
00:00:20.140 --> 00:00:24.140
After his first trial steps, he will one day walk

7
00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:28.170
the Moon. We can marvel at such exploits,

8
00:00:28.190 --> 00:00:32.180
even as we realize the chances are slight that man will venture

9
00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:36.210
personally beyond his own solar system. It is a long

10
00:00:36.230 --> 00:00:40.250
way to the stars.

11
00:00:40.270 --> 00:00:44.290
The sole source of knowledge of objects beyond our solar system

12
00:00:44.310 --> 00:00:48.310
is electromagnetic radiation. But despite the fact that

13
00:00:48.330 --> 00:00:52.340
we receive almost all our knowledge through our eyes, the visible

14
00:00:52.360 --> 00:00:56.350
spectrum is a narrow one. We might see many new

15
00:00:56.370 --> 00:01:00.380
colors if we could see into other wavelengths, and the light

16
00:01:00.400 --> 00:01:04.400
invisible to us can tell us much about the mysteries of space.

17
00:01:04.420 --> 00:01:08.420
Already, this invisible light has led us to a new

18
00:01:08.440 --> 00:01:12.450
understanding of the universe, and provided unsuspected puzzles

19
00:01:12.470 --> 00:01:16.480
for our solution.

20
00:01:16.500 --> 00:01:20.510
The envelope of air which protects life on Earth also

21
00:01:20.530 --> 00:01:24.530
screens out, or absorbs, the starlight in this portion

22
00:01:24.550 --> 00:01:28.550
of the spectrum, and it is these invisible radiations

23
00:01:28.570 --> 00:01:32.570
that could one day tell us how stars are born and die.

24
00:01:32.590 --> 00:01:36.590
And how the universe was created. For Earth-bound astronomers,

25
00:01:36.610 --> 00:01:40.620
the challenge is tantalizing. Yes, it is beyond the air

26
00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:44.660
that we must go if we seek a clearer image of the heavens.

27
00:01:44.680 --> 00:01:48.680
Above distortion that makes the stars twinkle,

28
00:01:48.700 --> 00:01:52.720
above the blotter of air that absorbs the ultraviolet,

29
00:01:52.740 --> 00:01:56.740
the X-rays, the gamma rays, on which

30
00:01:56.760 --> 00:02:00.760
much of the study of starlight depends.

31
00:02:00.780 --> 00:02:04.800
We need a solid platform, hundreds of miles out in space,

32
00:02:04.820 --> 00:02:08.820
from which to make our studies. Not a rocket, not a balloon,

33
00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:12.840
but an orbiting astronomical observatory, and that is what has

34
00:02:12.860 --> 00:02:16.870
been developed by scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center,

35
00:02:16.890 --> 00:02:20.910
where Dr. James Kupperian headed a group of distinguished astronomers.

36
00:02:20.930 --> 00:02:24.930
[Music]

37
00:02:24.950 --> 00:02:28.950
To know the stars, we must capture starlight,

38
00:02:28.970 --> 00:02:32.980
light that is cut off forever from human eyes on Earth. For this,

39
00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:37.010
we need special telescopes. [Dr. Kupperian]: With the Goddard telescope in space,

40
00:02:37.030 --> 00:02:41.060
we can sample radiations emitted from within our own

41
00:02:41.080 --> 00:02:45.080
galaxy and compare them to emissions from

42
00:02:45.100 --> 00:02:49.100
galaxies tens of millions of light-years distant. It's an exciting

43
00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:53.120
prospect. With the OAO man will go a long way

44
00:02:53.140 --> 00:02:57.140
toward solving the mystery of the creation of matter.

45
00:02:57.160 --> 00:03:01.160
[Narrator]: Through our new window on the universe, we shall search

46
00:03:01.180 --> 00:03:05.170
the stars in many ways. An early project will be the mapping

47
00:03:05.190 --> 00:03:09.200
of the entire sky by ultraviolet light. In charge

48
00:03:09.220 --> 00:03:13.220
of making this unique celestial map is Dr. Fred Whipple.

49
00:03:13.240 --> 00:03:17.260
[Dr. Whipple]: The new map of the universe, which will be very different

50
00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:21.280
from these maps, will be made by a celescope.

51
00:03:21.300 --> 00:03:25.310
With four such ground-controlled

52
00:03:25.330 --> 00:03:29.330
telescopic cameras, we intend to make an all-sky

53
00:03:29.350 --> 00:03:33.360
map in four separate ultraviolet colors.

54
00:03:33.380 --> 00:03:37.370
In addition, we plan to catalog more than

55
00:03:37.390 --> 00:03:41.410
30.000 very hot stars

56
00:03:41.430 --> 00:03:45.440
much brighter than the Sun, many times more

57
00:03:45.460 --> 00:03:49.470
than astronomers have previously recorded in

58
00:03:49.490 --> 00:03:53.490
the ultraviolet. [Narrator]: This

59
00:03:53.510 --> 00:03:57.510
satellite, the OAO, is the biggest and most complex

60
00:03:57.530 --> 00:04:01.530
unmanned satellite in the NASA program. Built by the Grumman

61
00:04:01.550 --> 00:04:05.570
Aircraft Corporation, it basically a shell, into which

62
00:04:05.590 --> 00:04:09.600
various kinds of telescopes can be mounted. When it has been placed in an

63
00:04:09.620 --> 00:04:13.620
orbit 500 miles beyond the Earth, this space observatory will

64
00:04:13.640 --> 00:04:17.660
give us eyes to see into regions until now invisible

65
00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:21.690
to man. [Music]

66
00:04:21.710 --> 00:04:25.740
[Music]

67
00:04:25.760 --> 00:04:29.760
[Music]

68
00:04:29.780 --> 00:04:33.770
[Music][Rocket launch sound]

69
00:04:33.790 --> 00:04:37.790
[Rocket launch sound]

70
00:04:37.810 --> 00:04:41.820
[Rocket launch sound]

71
00:04:41.840 --> 00:04:45.850
Launched by a Centaur rocket, the OAO sheds its protective fairings

72
00:04:45.870 --> 00:04:49.880
in space. [Music]

73
00:04:49.900 --> 00:04:53.900
The OAO powers itself

74
00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:57.910
through solar panels, storing electrical energy derived from

75
00:04:57.930 --> 00:05:01.920
sunlight. Once in orbit, it relies on

76
00:05:01.940 --> 00:05:05.950
solar sensors and star trackers to stabilize itself.

77
00:05:05.970 --> 00:05:09.970
Then, it opens its eyes to look through a new window in the

78
00:05:09.990 --> 00:05:14.010
universe. With each succeeding year, a new OAO

79
00:05:14.030 --> 00:05:18.020
will be orbited. The first one in space carries telescope packages

80
00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:22.040
in both ends. [Music]

81
00:05:22.060 --> 00:05:26.080
From a ground control station, men reach into space

82
00:05:26.100 --> 00:05:30.110
500 miles to point the OAO toward any part of the sky

83
00:05:30.130 --> 00:05:34.120
they wish to study.

84
00:05:34.140 --> 00:05:38.140
Precision is such that the OAO could fix on the eraser of a pencil

85
00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:42.160
100 miles away. Observations can be

86
00:05:42.180 --> 00:05:46.180
stored by magnetic memory,

87
00:05:46.200 --> 00:05:50.220
and all information flashed to Earth within seconds. Recorded as numerical

88
00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:54.260
data, starlight images can be translated into pictures

89
00:05:54.280 --> 00:05:58.290
by the trained scientists.

90
00:05:58.310 --> 00:06:02.330
The OAO will be another significant advance

91
00:06:02.350 --> 00:06:06.350
in astronomy since Galileo aimed the first telescope

92
00:06:06.370 --> 00:06:10.380
to prove the Earth was not the center of the universe.

93
00:06:10.400 --> 00:06:14.390
From the time when

94
00:06:14.410 --> 00:06:18.420
prehistoric man wondered at the bright pin points in the sky,

95
00:06:18.440 --> 00:06:22.450
astronomy has developed as a challenge.

96
00:06:22.470 --> 00:06:26.460
The OAO, the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory,

97
00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:30.500
will extend man's range of vision across the universe.

98
00:06:30.520 --> 00:06:34.520
Man, on his

99
00:06:34.540 --> 00:06:38.530
tiny planet -- a sand grain on the shoreline of the seas

100
00:06:38.550 --> 00:06:42.580
of infinity--longs to find out what the stars are,

101
00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:46.620
why they are there, how they came to be there,

102
00:06:46.640 --> 00:06:50.640
vast, in the immensities of space, that

103
00:06:50.660 --> 00:06:54.670
may, or may not, have a beginning,

104
00:06:54.690 --> 00:06:58.680
or an end.

105
00:06:58.700 --> 00:07:02.720
[Produced by Film Graphics, Inc.][Music]

106
00:07:02.740 --> 00:07:06.740
[Music]

107
00:07:06.760 --> 00:07:10.760
[Music]

108
00:07:10.780 --> 00:07:13.680
[Music]