On January 31, 1958, the U.S. Army and Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory launched the first American Earth satellite.  A 2008 commemorative blog bemoaned the subsequent politicization of our space program.  But in fact, the incomprehension and interference of bureaucrats was a problem from the beginning.  The political decision to rely on the Vanguard program, instead of using an already-developed military vehicle, allowed the Soviets to beat us into space, much to our national embarrassment. On a few occasions, the disparity between science and bureaucracy was hilarious.  Shortly after Explorer 1 was launched, JPL received a letter from the Smithsonian, requesting the spacecraft.  The reply, by JPL’s Leonard Jaffe, was that JPL did in fact have an exact duplicate, the so-called proof test model that was used for system tests and as a possible backup.  The Smithsonian responded with stiffly formal letter that they did not accept copies or...(Read Full Post)