On October 5, 1957, over fifty years ago, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, thus adding a new dimension to the ever escalating Cold War.  This single act not only launched earth's first artificial satellite, but also propelled the world into the space age.  Then on April 12, 1961, the Soviets once again by launching Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit and making him the first human to enter space.  With the two precedents set, the United States desperately needed a victory in the space race.  This victory would come at the prediction of one president, while coming to fruition less then a decade later under the administration of President Nixon.

 

Over forty years have passed since President Kennedy famously and boldly declared the United States would successfully land an astronaut on the moon within the decade.  Though he would not live to see this feat, his prediction came true.  On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and "Buzz" Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on earth's only natural satellite.  This became the first substantial victory in the race for space against the Soviet Union.

 

Indisputably, the successes and failures of both the Soviet Union and the United States spawned from the intense rivalry between the two superpowers.  Yet, since the end of the Cold War and collapse of the Soviet Union, the world began to approach the last true frontier with a sense of collaboration instead of competition.  The greatest example of cooperative achievement has been the International Space Station.

 

Though it might seem small in relation to the general size and scope of space, the International Space Station (ISS) remains a remarkable technological and logistical accomplishment.  With its dimensions close to the length of a football field, respectively 356 feet across and 290 feet long, with roughly an acre of solar panels to collect energy for the station, it orbits as an impressive collaboration for research off terra firma.  The various sections and modules of the station have been built

 

Even with its relatively impressive dimensions, what certainly has become one of its greatest achievements derives from the aspect of political cooperation, not science or research.  Though headed by the United States, the station consists in total of sixteen contributing nations.  They include programs from Russia, Canada, Japan, Brazil, and the European Space Administration (comprised of Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Norway, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands).

 

The legacy of President Kennedy has best been exemplified in this station not through the scientific accomplishments, but rather the idea that success between nations comes from the act of international collaboration rather than the xenophobic petulance adopted by nations throughout history. The ISS shines as a beacon of hope for future collaboration on the international stage.

 

 

References:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/

http://www.shuttlepresskit.com/ISS_OVR/index.htm

http://www.esa.int/esaHS/iss.html

http://history.nasa.gov/ap11ann/introduction.htm

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/

http://www.spacetoday.org/History/ManInSpaceFirsts/ManyPeoples.html

 

By Dean O'Brokta
Research by Danielle Wimer, Holly Evanoski, Dean O'Brokta, Leslie Mead, and Neil Schaffer  

 

 

Personal Quests for Truth

 

At the 2007 JFK Lancer NID conference William Law & Mark Sobel presented a special screening of the film documentary Personal Quests for Truth. The feature documentary focuses on the RFK Assassination and Ambassador Hotel witnesses. The film was recently shown at the Sacramento International Film Festival where it was recognized as the winner for an Outstanding Documentary Feature.

 

This first feature documentary about the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 and the subsequent trial of Sirhan Sirhan for the murder is a detailed and controversial account that examines the RFK assassination starting from the night of June 4, 1968 and follows the developments in the case over the next 4 decades. We hear for the first time from numerous actual participants who have never before spoken on film, and who are at long-last willing to break decades of silence to come forward and disclose facts about the case that have been kept from the public for almost 40 years. The film reveals to the public for the first time startling new revelations in the murder of Robert F. Kennedy, including perjury at the trial in 1969 and a press cover-up in 1975. For the first time ever, the secretly tape-recorded hypnosis sessions with the alleged assassin are presented to the public. The bizarre sessions unfold as the accused assassin is placed under time-regression hypnosis and taken back to the night of the murder, in an effort to overcome his amnesia of the murder. Ultimately, the feature discloses the one remaining avenue that could still lead to a breakthrough in the case, and the efforts of Schrade and others to attempt to set a controversial plan into motion to answer the lingering questions of why the events in the pantry of the Ambassador Hotel that night took place.

 

Future showings of Personal Quests for Truth are slated for the Newport Beach Film Festival on April 28, 2008 and at the upcoming Seattle Independent Film Festival in June.

 

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