Splash Biography

One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." That's all most Americans know about the Space Race. But how did a newly-formed NASA get 240,000 miles to the moon with less computing power than is available in the average smartphone? The answer involves 530,100 gallons of rocket fuel, secretly recruited Nazis, and an immense patriotic panic. This class will examine Space Age science, politics, and the tangled links between the two that enabled humanity to walk on extraterrestrial soil. Take a nuanced look at the journey to the moon, the improbable achievement of a haphazard program born from the intersection of the post-atomic technological arms race and the political paranoia of the Cold War.