Projects

    A ballistic missile follows a ballistic trajectory to deliver one or more warheads on a predetermined target. These weapons are only guided during relatively brief periods of flight-most of their trajectory is unpowered, being governed by gravity and air resistance if in the atmosphere. Shorter range ballistic missiles stay within the Earth's atmosphere, while longer-ranged intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), are launched on a sub-orbital flight trajectory and spend most of their flight out of the atmosphere.

    The earliest use of rockets as a weapon dates to the 13th Century. A pioneer ballistic missile was the A-4, commonly known as the V-2 rocket developed by Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s under the direction of Wernher von Braun. The first successful launch of a V-2 was on October 3, 1942, and it began operation on September 6, 1944 against Paris, followed by an attack on London two days later. By the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945, over 3,000 V-2s had been launched.

    A total of 30 nations have deployed operational ballistic missiles. Development continues with around 100 ballistic missile flight tests in 2007 (not including those of the US), mostly by China, Iran, and the Russian Federation. In 2010, the U.S. and Russian governments signed a treaty to reduce their inventory of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) over a seven-year period (to 2017) to 1550 units each.

    Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957, orbiting for three weeks before its batteries died, then silently for two more months before falling back into the atmosphere. It was a 58 cm (23 in) diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. Its radio signal was easily detectable even by radio amateurs, and the 65° inclination and duration of its orbit made its flight path cover virtually the entire inhabited Earth. This surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the Cold War. The launch was the beginning of a new era of political, military, technological, and scientific developments.

    Tracking and studying Sputnik 1 from Earth provided scientists with valuable information. The density of the upper atmosphere could be deduced from its drag on the orbit, and the propagation of its radio signals gave data about the ionosphere.

    Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No.1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR (now known as the Baikonur Cosmodrome). The satellite travelled at about 29,000 kilometres per hour (18,000 mph; 8,100 m/s), taking 96.2 minutes to complete each orbit. It transmitted on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz, which were monitored by radio operators throughout the world. The signals continued for 21 days until the transmitter batteries ran out on 26 October 1957. Sputnik burned up on 4 January 1958 while reentering Earth's atmosphere, after three months, 1440 completed orbits of the Earth, and a distance travelled of about 70 million km (43 million mi).

    The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Air Force. It is a global navigation satellite system that provides geolocation and time information to a GPS receiver anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. Obstacles such as mountains and buildings block the relatively weak GPS signals.

    The GPS does not require the user to transmit any data, and it operates independently of any telephonic or internet reception, though these technologies can enhance the usefulness of the GPS positioning information. The GPS provides critical positioning capabilities to military, civil, and commercial users around the world. The United States government created the system, maintains it, and makes it freely accessible to anyone with a GPS receiver.

    The GPS project was launched by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1973 for use by the United States military and became fully operational in 1995. It was allowed for civilian use in the 1980s. Advances in technology and new demands on the existing system have now led to efforts to modernize the GPS and implement the next generation of GPS Block IIIA satellites and Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX). Announcements from Vice President Al Gore and the White House in 1998 initiated these changes. In 2000, the U.S. Congress authorized the modernization effort, GPS III. During the 1990s, GPS quality was degraded by the United States government in a program called "Selective Availability"; this was discontinued in May 2000 by a law signed by President Bill Clinton.

    The Voyager Golden Records are two phonograph records that were included aboard both Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. The records contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or for future humans, who may find them. The records are a sort of time capsule.

    Although neither Voyager spacecraft is heading toward any particular star, Voyager 1 will pass within 1.6 light-years' distance of the star Gliese 445, currently in the constellation Camelopardalis, in about 40,000 years.

    Carl Sagan noted that "The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space, but the launching of this 'bottle' into the cosmic 'ocean' says something very hopeful about life on this planet."

    The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. The selection of content for the record took almost a year. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind, thunder and animals (including the songs of birds and whales). To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, spoken greetings in 55 ancient and modern languages, other human sounds, like footsteps and laughter (Sagan's), and printed messages from U.S. president Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim. The record also includes the inspirational message Per aspera ad astra in Morse code.

    The collection of images includes many photographs and diagrams both in black and white, and color. The first images are of scientific interest, showing mathematical and physical quantities, the Solar System and its planets, DNA, and human anatomy and reproduction. Care was taken to include not only pictures of humanity, but also some of animals, insects, plants and landscapes. Images of humanity depict a broad range of cultures. These images show food, architecture, and humans in portraits as well as going about their day-to-day lives. Many pictures are annotated with one or more indications of scales of time, size, or mass. Some images contain indications of chemical composition. All measures used on the pictures are defined in the first few images using physical references that are likely to be consistent anywhere in the universe.

    The musical selection is also varied, featuring works by composers such as J.S. Bach (interpreted by Glenn Gould), Mozart, Beethoven (played by the Budapest String Quartet), and Stravinsky. The disc also includes music by Guan Pinghu, Blind Willie Johnson, Chuck Berry, Kesarbai Kerkar, Valya Balkanska, and electronic composer Laurie Spiegel, as well as Azerbaijani folk music by oboe player Kamil Jalilov. The inclusion of Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" was controversial, with some claiming that rock music was "adolescent", to which Sagan replied, "There are a lot of adolescents on the planet." The selection of music for the record was completed by a team composed of Carl Sagan as project director, Linda Salzman Sagan, Frank Drake, Alan Lomax, Ann Druyan as creative director, artist Jon Lomberg, Timothy Ferris as producer, and Jimmy Iovine as sound engineer.

    The Golden Record also carries an hour-long recording of the brainwaves of Ann Druyan. During the recording of the brainwaves, Druyan thought of many topics, including Earth's history, civilizations and the problems they face, and what it was like to fall in love.

    After NASA had received criticism over the nudity on the Pioneer plaque (line drawings of a naked man and woman), the agency chose not to allow Sagan and his colleagues to include a photograph of a nude man and woman on the record. Instead, only a silhouette of the couple was included. However, the record does contain "Diagram of vertebrate evolution", by Jon Lomberg, with drawings of an anatomically correct naked male and naked female, showing external organs.

    The pulsar map and hydrogen molecule diagram are shared in common with the Pioneer plaque.

    The 115 images are encoded in analogue form and composed of 512 vertical lines. The remainder of the record is audio, designed to be played at 16 2/3 revolutions per minute.

    Jimmy Iovine, who was still early in his career as a music producer, served as sound engineer for the project.

    It has been said that Carl Sagan suggested including the Beatles song "Here Comes the Sun" on the record but the record company EMI, which held the copyrights, declined. However, this was refuted by Timothy Ferris, who worked on the selection with Sagan; the song was never even considered for inclusion.

    The Great Firewall is the combination of legislative actions and technologies enforced by the People's Republic of China to regulate the Internet domestically. Its role in internet censorship in China is to block access to selected foreign websites and to slow down cross-border internet traffic. The Great Firewall operates by checking transmission control protocol (TCP) packets for keywords or sensitive words. If the keywords or sensitive words appear in the TCP packets, access will be closed. If one link is closed, more links from the same machine will be blocked by the Great Firewall. The effect includes: limiting access to foreign information sources, blocking foreign internet tools and mobile apps, and requiring foreign companies to adapt to domestic regulations.

    Besides censorship, the Great Firewall has also influenced the development of China's internal internet economy by giving preference to domestic companies and reducing the effectiveness of products from foreign internet companies. The techniques deployed by the Chinese government to maintain control of the Great Firewall can include modifying search results for terms, such as they did following Ai Weiwei's arrest, and petitioning global conglomerates to remove content, as happened when they petitioned Apple to remove the Quartz business news publication's app from its Chinese App Store after reporting on the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests.

    The Human Genome Project (HGP) is an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up human DNA, and of identifying and mapping all of the genes of the human genome from both a physical and functional standpoint. It remains the world's largest collaborative biological project. The project was proposed and funded starting in 1984, the project got underway in 1990, and was declared complete in 2003.

    Constructed from prefabricated modules launched individually, the International Space Station is a habitable, low-Earth-orbit satellite. It arose from the 1993 merger into a single multinational program of three national initiatives to establish a permanent orbital platform for research and exploration: the Soviet "Mir-2," the American "Freedom," and the European Union's "Columbus." To date, astronauts from 15 countries have lived and worked on the station. Supplies and crew members have ferried to the platform by American space shuttles and Russian Soyuz rockets; these are scheduled to be replaced by the Russian Progress, European ATV, Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle, and the American SpaceX corporation's Dragon. The International Space Station is the largest artificial body in orbit, and can be seen with the naked eye from Earth under the appropriate conditions.

    An interstellar probe is a space probe that has left-or is expected to leave-the Solar System and enter interstellar space, which is typically defined as the region beyond the heliopause. It also refers to probes capable of reaching other star systems.

    There are five interstellar probes: Voyager 1, Voyager 2, Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11 and New Horizons. As of 2019, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are only probes to have actually reached interstellar space. The other three are on interstellar trajectories.

    The termination shock is the point in the heliosphere where the solar wind slows down to subsonic speed. Even though the termination shock happens as close as 80-100 AU, the maximum extent of the region in which the Sun's gravitational field is dominant (the Hill sphere) is thought to be at around 230,000 astronomical units (3.6 light-years). This point is close to the nearest known star system, Alpha Centauri, located 4.36 light years away. Although the probes will be under the influence of the Sun for a long time, their velocities far exceed the Sun's escape velocity, so they will eventually leave forever.

    Interstellar space is defined as that which lies beyond a magnetic region that extends about 122 AU from the sun, as detected by Voyager 1, and the equivalent region of influence surrounding other stars. Voyager 1 entered interstellar space in 2012.

    The notion of a lunar colony originated before the Space Age. In 1638 Bishop John Wilkins wrote A Discourse Concerning a New World and Another Planet, in which he predicted a human colony on the Moon. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), among others, also suggested such a step. From the 1950s onwards, a number of concepts and designs have been suggested by scientists, engineers and others.

    In 1954, science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke proposed a lunar base of inflatable modules covered in lunar dust for insulation. A spaceship, assembled in low Earth orbit, would launch to the Moon, and astronauts would set up the igloo-like modules and an inflatable radio mast. Subsequent steps would include the establishment of a larger, permanent dome; an algae-based air purifier; a nuclear reactor for the provision of power; and electromagnetic cannons to launch cargo and fuel to interplanetary vessels in space.

    In 1959, John S. Rinehart suggested that the safest design would be a structure that could "[float] in a stationary ocean of dust", since there were, at the time this concept was outlined, theories that there could be mile-deep dust oceans on the Moon. The proposed design consisted of a half-cylinder with half-domes at both ends, with a micrometeoroid shield placed above the base.

    The Apollo Program was an ambitious project to put a man on the moon. The program was conceived of in the late 1950s by United State officials who were appalled at the Soviet Union's lead in the space race. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy stated before a joint session of Congress, "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."
    There is some speculation about whether President Kennedy himself actually believed in the project; some say that he had serious questions about the cost and scientific feasibility, and that his proposal was mostly a public relations gimmick to raise America's spirits in the face of the perceived Soviet space threat. But America's imagination was fired by the project, and work proceeded with speed.
    The Apollo Program's managers had to overcome an incredible number of daunting scientific and engineering challenges to succeed. The journey involved many separate phases: ascent from Earth, travel from the Earth to the Moon, descent to the Moon and return to Lunar orbit, followed by the journey back to Earth, and then down to Earth's surface. This required a vehicle with many different capabilities that remained light enough to be put into orbit by the rockets available at the time. (The problem was akin to trying to create a combination submarine, all-terrain vehicle and airplane that could be towed by a Volkswagen Beetle.)
    That the Apollo Program succeeded and a man walked on the moon in 1969 is an incredible testament to the ingenuity, courage and persistence shown by the dedicated men and women involved.

    Human spaceflight (also referred to as crewed spaceflight or manned spaceflight) is space travel with a crew or passengers aboard the spacecraft. Spacecraft carrying people may be operated directly, by human crew, or it may be either remotely operated from ground stations on Earth or be autonomous, able to carry out a specific mission with no human involvement.

    The first human spaceflight was launched by the Soviet Union on 12 April 1961 as a part of the Vostok program, with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin aboard. Humans have been continuously present in space for 18 years and 200 days on the International Space Station. All human spaceflight has so far been human-piloted, with the first autonomous human-carrying spacecraft under design starting in 2015.

    Russia and China have human spaceflight capability with the Soyuz program and Shenzhou program. In the United States, SpaceShipTwo reached the edge of space in 2018; this was the first crewed spaceflight from the USA since the Space Shuttle retired in 2011. Currently, all expeditions to the International Space Station use Soyuz vehicles, which remain attached to the station to allow quick return if needed. The United States is developing commercial crew transportation to facilitate domestic access to ISS and low Earth orbit, as well as the Orion vehicle for beyond-low-Earth-orbit applications.

    While spaceflight has typically been a government-directed activity, commercial spaceflight has gradually been taking on a greater role. The first private human spaceflight took place on 21 June 2004, when SpaceShipOne conducted a suborbital flight, and a number of non-governmental companies have been working to develop a space tourism industry. NASA has also played a role to stimulate private spaceflight through programs such as Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) and Commercial Crew Development (CCDev). With its 2011 budget proposals released in 2010, the Obama administration moved towards a model where commercial companies would supply NASA with transportation services of both people and cargo transport to low Earth orbit. The vehicles used for these services could then serve both NASA and potential commercial customers. Commercial resupply of ISS began two years after the retirement of the Shuttle, and commercial crew launches could begin by 2019.

    Mars is the focus of much scientific study about possible human colonization. Mars's surface conditions and past presence of liquid water make it arguably the most hospitable planet in the Solar System besides Earth. Other than Venus, Mars requires less energy per unit mass (delta-v) to reach from Earth than any planet.

    Permanent human habitation on other planets, including Mars, is one of science fiction's most prevalent themes. As technology advances, and concerns about humanity's future on Earth increase, arguments favoring space colonization gain momentum. Other reasons for colonizing space include economic interests, long-term scientific research best carried out by humans as opposed to robotic probes, and sheer curiosity.

    Both private and public organizations have made commitments to researching the viability of long-term colonization efforts and to taking steps toward a permanent human presence on Mars. Space agencies engaged in research or mission planning include NASA, Roscosmos, and the China National Space Administration. Private organizations include SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing.

    Mars is the focus of much scientific study about possible human colonization. Mars's surface conditions and past presence of liquid water make it arguably the most hospitable planet in the Solar System besides Earth. Other than Venus, Mars requires less energy per unit mass (delta-v) to reach from Earth than any planet.

    Permanent human habitation on other planets, including Mars, is one of science fiction's most prevalent themes. As technology advances, and concerns about humanity's future on Earth increase, arguments favoring space colonization gain momentum. Other reasons for colonizing space include economic interests, long-term scientific research best carried out by humans as opposed to robotic probes, and sheer curiosity.

    Both private and public organizations have made commitments to researching the viability of long-term colonization efforts and to taking steps toward a permanent human presence on Mars. Space agencies engaged in research or mission planning include NASA, Roscosmos, and the China National Space Administration. Private organizations include SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing.

    Mars is the focus of much scientific study about possible human colonization. Mars's surface conditions and past presence of liquid water make it arguably the most hospitable planet in the Solar System besides Earth. Other than Venus, Mars requires less energy per unit mass (delta-v) to reach from Earth than any planet.

    Permanent human habitation on other planets, including Mars, is one of science fiction's most prevalent themes. As technology advances, and concerns about humanity's future on Earth increase, arguments favoring space colonization gain momentum. Other reasons for colonizing space include economic interests, long-term scientific research best carried out by humans as opposed to robotic probes, and sheer curiosity.

    Both private and public organizations have made commitments to researching the viability of long-term colonization efforts and to taking steps toward a permanent human presence on Mars. Space agencies engaged in research or mission planning include NASA, Roscosmos, and the China National Space Administration. Private organizations include SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing.

    Mars is the focus of much scientific study about possible human colonization. Mars's surface conditions and past presence of liquid water make it arguably the most hospitable planet in the Solar System besides Earth. Other than Venus, Mars requires less energy per unit mass (delta-v) to reach from Earth than any planet.

    Permanent human habitation on other planets, including Mars, is one of science fiction's most prevalent themes. As technology advances, and concerns about humanity's future on Earth increase, arguments favoring space colonization gain momentum. Other reasons for colonizing space include economic interests, long-term scientific research best carried out by humans as opposed to robotic probes, and sheer curiosity.

    Both private and public organizations have made commitments to researching the viability of long-term colonization efforts and to taking steps toward a permanent human presence on Mars. Space agencies engaged in research or mission planning include NASA, Roscosmos, and the China National Space Administration. Private organizations include SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing.

    Mars is the focus of much scientific study about possible human colonization. Mars's surface conditions and past presence of liquid water make it arguably the most hospitable planet in the Solar System besides Earth. Other than Venus, Mars requires less energy per unit mass (delta-v) to reach from Earth than any planet.

    Permanent human habitation on other planets, including Mars, is one of science fiction's most prevalent themes. As technology advances, and concerns about humanity's future on Earth increase, arguments favoring space colonization gain momentum. Other reasons for colonizing space include economic interests, long-term scientific research best carried out by humans as opposed to robotic probes, and sheer curiosity.

    Both private and public organizations have made commitments to researching the viability of long-term colonization efforts and to taking steps toward a permanent human presence on Mars. Space agencies engaged in research or mission planning include NASA, Roscosmos, and the China National Space Administration. Private organizations include SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing.

    Mars is the focus of much scientific study about possible human colonization. Mars's surface conditions and past presence of liquid water make it arguably the most hospitable planet in the Solar System besides Earth. Other than Venus, Mars requires less energy per unit mass (delta-v) to reach from Earth than any planet.

    Permanent human habitation on other planets, including Mars, is one of science fiction's most prevalent themes. As technology advances, and concerns about humanity's future on Earth increase, arguments favoring space colonization gain momentum. Other reasons for colonizing space include economic interests, long-term scientific research best carried out by humans as opposed to robotic probes, and sheer curiosity.

    Both private and public organizations have made commitments to researching the viability of long-term colonization efforts and to taking steps toward a permanent human presence on Mars. Space agencies engaged in research or mission planning include NASA, Roscosmos, and the China National Space Administration. Private organizations include SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing.

    Mars is the focus of much scientific study about possible human colonization. Mars's surface conditions and past presence of liquid water make it arguably the most hospitable planet in the Solar System besides Earth. Other than Venus, Mars requires less energy per unit mass (delta-v) to reach from Earth than any planet.

    Permanent human habitation on other planets, including Mars, is one of science fiction's most prevalent themes. As technology advances, and concerns about humanity's future on Earth increase, arguments favoring space colonization gain momentum. Other reasons for colonizing space include economic interests, long-term scientific research best carried out by humans as opposed to robotic probes, and sheer curiosity.

    Both private and public organizations have made commitments to researching the viability of long-term colonization efforts and to taking steps toward a permanent human presence on Mars. Space agencies engaged in research or mission planning include NASA, Roscosmos, and the China National Space Administration. Private organizations include SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing.

    Mars is the focus of much scientific study about possible human colonization. Mars's surface conditions and past presence of liquid water make it arguably the most hospitable planet in the Solar System besides Earth. Other than Venus, Mars requires less energy per unit mass (delta-v) to reach from Earth than any planet.

    Permanent human habitation on other planets, including Mars, is one of science fiction's most prevalent themes. As technology advances, and concerns about humanity's future on Earth increase, arguments favoring space colonization gain momentum. Other reasons for colonizing space include economic interests, long-term scientific research best carried out by humans as opposed to robotic probes, and sheer curiosity.

    Both private and public organizations have made commitments to researching the viability of long-term colonization efforts and to taking steps toward a permanent human presence on Mars. Space agencies engaged in research or mission planning include NASA, Roscosmos, and the China National Space Administration. Private organizations include SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing.

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    SDI stands for "Strategic Defense Initiative," a research program implemented by the United States in the mid-1980s to provide a ground and space-based shield against incoming nuclear missiles. As proposed, the SDI is a defensive system that will spot incoming ICBMs, track their courses, and then destroy them before they detonate over US cities.
    The concept of putting weapons platforms in space has been around for years; in fact the major space powers may have already done so in secret. Some nations have certainly built "satellite killers," satellites designed to destroy enemy satellites, disrupting the opposition's communications and intelligence capabilities.
    The specific method of incoming missile destruction hasn't been determined. Some have proposed creating powerful x-ray lasers powered by nuclear explosions that would melt the enemy weapons in space; others suggest ground-based anti-missile rockets on the Patriot missile model.
    To date the project has made little in the way of visible progress, and its future is uncertain. Some people believe that the threat of an incoming nuclear missile is extremely remote, especially when compared to the threat of a nuclear bomb being smuggled into the country by terrorists. Others believe that the entire concept is flawed and that the money would be better spent bribing potential enemies into destroying their ICBMs rather than trying to create a system to shoot them down.

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    The Internet is a computer network linked by hard wire, telephony and satellite. These computers share the same language, allowing for the fast transfer of information. Anyone with a computer and a modem (or other hookup) can utilize the Internet to gather information, to broadcast news and opinions, or to shoot at other like-minded folks in virtual reality galleries. In its few years of existence the Internet has dramatically changed the way that information is gathered and transmitted, and the network's full potential cannot be guessed.
    The Internet was first conceived of in the early 1960s. At that time the discussion was purely theoretical, as the computers, the connections, and the common language did not yet exist. Given that it was the height of the Cold War, neither did the necessary international cooperation. But the idea had many supporters, especially in universities and research labs around the US, and by 1969 four computers located around the country were in communication with each other through ARPA-Net.
    By the mid-1980s, the core of the network was in place, the communications protocols had been determined, and the Internet was live. By the early 1990s the first Internet language (http) was written and the first browser was published. The World Wide Web was born.
    The Internet stands today as one of the few great projects constructed largely by individuals rather than by an organization such as a corporation, religion, or government. Various portions of the network were indeed created and funded by the US Department of Defense - but much of it came together organically, built in bits and pieces by professors, scientists and engineers, perhaps less for personal gain than because they thought the "information society" was an idea worth pursuing.

    The Manhattan Project was the code name for a joint project undertaken by the United States, Great Britain and Canada during World War II, the objective being to build an atomic weapon before Germany. While various laboratories had been independently studying nuclear physics for a number of years, the Manhattan Project would be on an entirely different scale; hundreds of the allies' top scientists and engineers were, along with their families, taken to various secret locations around the country where they would stay until the project succeeded.
    Working conditions were extremely primitive and security was incredibly tight. The United States Army was in overall charge of the Manhattan Project, while the scientists remained in control over the actual research. The scope of the Manhattan Project was immense, and it involved solving some of the most difficult scientific and engineering projects of the day. The men and women, a collection of soldiers and scientists, endured harsh conditions and physical and mental exhaustion, which were compounded by security so tight that many never saw the outside of the base on which they were stationed. They were sustained by their patriotism and by fear of what would happen to them, their families, and their countries if Germany created the bomb first.
    Eventually, of course, the effort paid off. By the middle of 1945 the US had two working atomic bombs. Germany, the original target, had already surrendered, but Japan was still in the fight. The two weapons were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki early in August, and the Japanese Empire surrendered shortly thereafter.
    From our perspective some decades later, it isn't clear whether the Manhattan Project helped to save the world for democracy or brought it closer to fiery destruction. But the men and women involved believed they were fighting to stop a terrible dictatorship from gaining a new weapon and destroying everything they loved, and they were willing to sacrifice everything to succeed.