In a bold speech at Rice University on 12 September 1962, President John F. Kennedy set the tone for the decades of space exploration that would follow. He said, in part: “We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people.”
President Kennedy was a Navy man and quite proud of it. An avid sailor growing up and a PT boat skipper in World War II, he intuitively made the connection between the new frontier of space—“this new sea”—and the seafaring heritage of exploring our home planet from the decks of ships.
So, what special qualities have the U.S. naval services offered the space program in the past, and what will they still be contributing in the future? To attempt to answer this question, it’s important to go back much further in time than just the Space Age.
Space exploration is inherently expeditionary in nature, and the naval services have always been at the forefront of scientific expeditions to explore the world’s oceans beyond the horizon, the polar regions, and the sea depths.
‘Incredible Journeys’
History is replete with examples of seafaring contributions to exploration and a heritage of sea captains embarking on incredible journeys—Christopher Columbus’ voyages to the New World, Ferdinand Magellan’s quest to circumnavigate the globe, and James Cook’s epic Pacific sojourns. Aside from the dauntlessness it took to sail into the unknown, it also demanded great navigational and ship-handling skills.
Over the past century the feats of U.S. naval pathfinders, pioneers, and explorers have abounded:
• Eugene Ely was the first aviator to take off from a ship and land one one 100 years ago.
• Richard Byrd claimed the first airborne expeditions to the North and South poles.
• A. C. Reed flew the NC-4 in the first crossing of the Atlantic in 1919.
• Don Walsh (with Jacques Piccard) still claims the world record for the deepest manned dive to the Marianas Trench in the bathyscaphe Trieste.
• World War II ace and test pilot Edward L. “Whitey” Feightner led the way from pistons to supersonic jets and helped guide naval aviation from F-4F Wildcats to F-14 Tomcats.
• Rocketry pioneer Robert Truax’s contributions ranged from JATO (jet-assisted takeoff) to the submarine-launched Polaris ballistic missile.
• Four of the “Original Seven” Mercury astronauts—Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, and Wally Schirra—were Navy or Marine Corps officers.
• Neil Armstrong was the first human to walk on the moon.
• Jim Lovell safely splashed down after the harrowing explosion on board Apollo 13.
• The last man on the moon (for the time being) was Gene Cernan.
• All three Skylab commanders—Pete Conrad, Alan Bean, and Gerald Carr—were Navy or Marine Corps officers.
Each of these accomplishments decidedly required great personal courage and piloting skills. But perhaps more important, it took a number of qualities still highly valued in naval officers today. In addition to integrity and accountability, each of these pioneers exhibited extraordinary judgment, flexibility, boldness, adaptability, and initiative. All were self-confident, out-of-the-box thinkers who knew the importance of teamwork. And each had an unparalleled spirit of adventure, persevering in the face of adversity and long odds of success. They not only had the ability to read the book, but they could write it, too.
Leaders Are the Key
All those qualities are crucial to dealing with the unpredictable. Chapters could be written on each one, but the most important and enduring attribute of them all has been and continues to be leadership.
The Navy in particular has played a prominent and visible institutional role in support of space-flight operations, from the early days of Project Mercury all the way to the present, involving such missions as aero-medical support, flight physiology and survival training, support to launch and recovery operations, and many others.
Without question, the naval services have led the way in the Space Age with their people. Many have served as key leaders at NASA—including NASA administrators Vice Admiral Dick Truly and former Secretary of the Navy Sean O’Keefe, as well as many Headquarters Mission and Field Centers Directors and Chiefs of Flight Crew Operations and the Astronaut Office.
Obviously, space flight is not without its inherent risks. As slavish to detail as the engineers and scientists involved—and the astronauts themselves—have been from the start, the unthinkable unfortunately did happen. Who can forget the flash fire in an Apollo 1 launch pad test that took the lives of all three members of the crew, and the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters that also claimed all on board?
‘Pushing Back the Frontiers’
As we look to the future, with the space shuttle era winding down after 30 years, the qualities required to fly in space remain timeless and still are essential to success in pushing back the frontiers of the unknown.
Just as the Age of Sail was not exclusively about sailing, the Space Age—past, present, and future—will not necessarily be all about flying. So much of our universe is still left to explore. Despite our six trips to the moon and all we’ve accomplished, we’ve only just dipped our toe into “this new sea” of space that surrounds our home planet and the solar system and galaxies beyond.
Without doubt, just as in decades and centuries past, naval officers will be boldly leading the way for the decades and centuries to come.
Naval Officers’ Space Shuttle Milestones
First space shuttle flight—Captains John Young and Bob Crippen
First night launch and landing—Captain Dick Truly and Commander Dan Brandenstein
First night landing at Kennedy Space Center—Captain Frank Culbertson and Commander William Readdy
First untethered spacewalk—Captain Bruce McCandless
First space shuttle docking—Captain Robert L. “Hoot” Gibson
First International Space Station (ISS) flight—Colonel Bob Cabana and Lieutenant Colonel Frederick W. “C. J.” Sturckow
First Commander of ISS—Captain William Shepherd
Other Navy ISS commanders—Captains Frank Culbertson, Ken Bowersox, Michael Lopez-Alegria, and Scott Kelly (current commander ISS Expedition 26)
Final space shuttle flight (2011), STS-135—Captain Chris Ferguson and Colonel Doug Hurley