Then and Now: Civil Rights.

This picture is of people who were not afraid of showing how they really felt and had the courage to do something about it. They held up signs and walked for hours just to have the same rights as everybody else and have the rights they rightfully deserved.

Civil Rights has been a big issue amungst the people these days. Whether it's from Women's Rights or Animal Rights. This May, the people are celebrating the 50 year anniversary of the court case Brown vs. the Board of Education ruling. The ruling of this case said that all schools would not be segregated and that people would be treated equal.

Civil Rights today is like even today women don't fully have every right as of the men, but they still have most of their rights. Children don't have as many rights as do, let's say the women. Animals don't have really any rights. etc. People still have movements concerning our rights, but not huge movements like back in the 50's. There are alot more examples of how Civil Rights is still present today, but just so it's known, the Civil Rights today are not as bad as they were back in the day. The men had many rights but not all, women had barely any rights(not as equal as the men), the children didn't really have the rights they should have had, etc.

I think that the effects of the Cold War came as a relief to us because atleast the "Cold War Today" is not as bad as it was. Right? Well, that is not all about the Civil Rights today, but it is just some of the examples. See you soon! (:

Sputnik 1 & The Explorer!

Sputnik 1 was the worlds first artificial satellite, which represented a milestone for all man kind. It was launched on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched it. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball, weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. They wanted to launch Sputnik because they wanted to do something that would put them at the top, take the United States off guard, and ultimately to look evidentually superior to the United States, technologically. The Sputnik launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race. The Soviets' launch of Sputnik came as a surprise to the United States. The Space Race had dawned on us that our Cold War rival, the Soviet Union, was appearing as technologically superior to us. So immediately after the Sputnik I launch in October, the U.S. Defense Department responded to the political furor by approving funding for another U.S. satellite project because we the United States needed to "one up" them and make our own interpretation of their Sputnik. The United States first attempt at launching their own satellite was unsuccessful when its Vanguard rocket exploded during lift-off. But they did not give up hope and decided to try again and so, finally on January 31, 1958, a Jupiter-C rocket sent Explorer 1 into orbit. This let everyone know, including our rivals the Soviet Union, that the Space Race was underway.

Differences between the two satellites were that Sputnik was more than twice the size of a basketball, which made it much larger and heavier than Explorer. Only the "striped section" of Explorer contained the payload, while the rear half was a solid-fuel rocket motor. Another difference was that Sputnik's sphere was polished to aid in tracking by telescope and the Explorer's light and dark stripes helped control its temperature. Also, despite Sputnik's streamlined appearance, it trembled and tumbled while in orbit when the Explorer spun about its long axis, which extended its four flexible antennas. And last but not least, Sputnik contained two radio transmitters, which sent back the "beep-beep-beep"heard all around the world. While the Explorer contained a cosmic ray detector, radio transmitter, and temperature and micrometeroid sensors. Well, that's it for the launch of Sputnik and the Explorer 1! (: