A HALF CENTURY OF TECHNOLOGY - What have we reaped? - Jeff E Zhorne - February 1984

Jeff E Zhorne

Exactly 50 years ago a primitive, cylindrical rocket exploded upward, seemingly defying gravity. Smoke from the rocket's liquid fuel filled the nostrils of Wernher von Braun, German engineer, as he watched one of his first rockets climb 1.5 miles into the clear sky for a flight that lasted only 16 seconds. Within 25 years, the United States, with the aid of von Braun and many others, would manufacture a rocket-powered research plane- the X-15-that could fly at altitudes of 100 miles and at speeds almost seven times the speed of sound. Today a huge rocket propels a space shuttle's 99 tons into orbit around the earth. The shuttle handles like an aircraft but lands like a glider. An impressive record wouldn't you say? Technology has transformed the world. Today's civilization would have been beyond the comprehension of earlier generations. Our world has become the "playground of the jet set and arena of the businessman." Innovations in the fields of transportation and communications required a vital ingredient-new forms of energy. Gasoline to power automobiles did the most to spark the transition from coal to oil as a primary source of energy. - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library