Why It Matters Now… Most businesses in Texas today were influenced by changes that occurred after World War II.

AviationElectronics Aeronautics Travel Technology and the Expanding Economy 1950’s & 60’s

 By the end of WWII, Texas highways were crowded and id desperate need of repair.  In 1956, Congress passed the Federal Aid Highway Act. The government paid 90% of building more than 40,000 miles of roads linking every major city in the country.  Over 3,200 of those roads were in Texas.  With new roads, trucks soon replaced railroads as the primary means of carrying goods to market.  With improved highways came increased auto sales…more cars meant more petroleum products.

The highways attracted new businesses aimed at business travelers, truckers, and vacationers. These new businesses created new jobs for Texas workers  Fast-food restaurants  Motels with modern conveniences (TV, a/c,) became common along Texas highways  Because manufacturing was also growing, many of these modern conveniences were created or built here in Texas.

Aviation technology began to grow with the highway industry.  In 1950, Lawrence Bell established Bell Helicopter and built the world’s first helicopter factory.  General Dynamics, Boeing, and Texas Instruments all played major roles in the air-defense industry during the 1950’s.  When the 1960’s came along, the popularity of high- speed jet air travel soared…jumbo jets made it possible to fly from the U.S. to Europe in a fraction of the time that it took by boat. Texas would need new urban airports…Houston Intercontinental was built in 1969, and DFW Airport was opened in 1974

Along with advances in air travel and aviation technology came new, complex electronics.  Texas companies such as Texas instruments and Collins Radio made great strides in electronics technology.  Gordon Teal, a Dallas engineer, invented a silicon transistor in Four years later, another Dallas engineer named Jack Kilby, created the integrated circuit. Together, these two inventions led to the creation of the computer chip.

Because of Texas’ high tech industries, in 1961, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) named Houston the home of its new Manned Spacecraft Center. It would open in 1963, and by 1966, the space center had more than 5,000 employees on 1,620 acres.

 In April, 1961, President John F. Kennedy sent a memo to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, asking him to look into the state of America's space program, and into programs that could offer NASA the opportunity to catch up to the Soviets. Johnson responded about one week later, concluding that the United States needed to do much more to reach a leadership status in space exploration. Johnson recommended that a piloted moon landing was far enough in the future that it was likely that the United States could achieve it first.  On 25 May, 1961, Kennedy announced his support for the Apollo program and redefined the ultimate goal of the Space Race in an address to a special 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."  His justification for the Moon Race was both that it was vital to national security and that it would focus the nation's energies in other scientific and social fields.

In 1962, president John F. Kennedy gives a speech to 35,000 people at Rice University in Houston near the future NASA Mission Control Center. He gives reasons for the advancement of the space program and explains his goal to win the worldwide race to put a person on the moon. “…and do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out—then we must be bold.”

DateSignificanceCountryMission Name August 21, 1957Intercontinental ballistic missileIntercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) USSRR-7 SemyorkaR-7 Semyorka SS-6 Sapwood October 4, 1957First artificial satellitesatellite USSRSputnik 1 November 3, 1957First animal in orbit (Dog) USSRSputnik 2 January 31, 1958First US satellite; detection of Van Allen beltsVan Allen belts USAExplorer 1 December 18, 1958First communications satellitecommunications satellite USAProject SCORE January 4, 1959Artificial satellite (Sun's) USSRLuna 1 February 17, 1959Weather satellite USA-NASAVanguard 2 June 1959Reconnaissance satellite USA-Air ForceDiscover 4 August 7, 1959Photo of Earth from space USA-NASAExplorer 6 September 14, 1959Probe to Moon USSRLuna 2 October 7, 1959Photo of the far side of the Moon USSRLuna 3 April 12, 1961Human in orbit USSRVostok 1 July 10, 1962First active communications satellitecommunications satellite USA-AT&TTelstar September 29, 1962Artificial satellite by a non-superpower CanadaAlouette 1 June 16, 1963Woman in orbit USSRVostok 6 March 18, 1965Extra-vehicular activity USSRVoskhod 2 December 15, 1965Orbital rendezvous 2rendezvous USA-NASAGemini 6AGemini 6A/Gemini 7Gemini 7 March 1, 1966Probe lands on another planet - VenusVenus USSRVenera 3 March 16, 1966In-orbit rendezvousIn-orbit rendezvous and docking USA-NASAGemini 8 December 24, 1968Manned Lunar orbit USA-NASAApollo 8 July 20, 1969Human on the Moon USA-NASAApollo 11 April 23, 1971Space station USSRSalyut 1 November 14, 1971Satellite orbits another planet - MarsMars USA-NASAMariner 9 November 9, 1972GeostationaryGeostationary communications satellite Canada-BCEAnik A1 July 15, 1975First U.S.-USSR joint mission USSR USA-NASAApollo-Soyuz Test Project