October 4, 1957 was a Friday. I remember it only because dad took us all out for ice cream, and it was the day I read my first article on rockets, the one that got me hooked. It was a half-page spread in a newspaper about Project Vanguard, the Navy's satellite project. Their first test of the three-stage rocket was set for late October, and an orbital shot was planned to fly before the end of the year.
I remember being unable to sleep that night, my mind filled with visions of space ships and moon bases. Instead, I read the third installment of Heinlein's latest serial, Citizen of the Galaxy, in that month's Astounding. I must have stayed up until 3 am. But it was a weekend, so I could afford a sleepless night. And what are such things to a twelve-year old?
The launch of Vanguard's TV-2 on October 23 earned a three column insert in the "big" local paper. The top two stages were inert, but that was when I got to see pictures of a real space rocket. It didn't look anything like the V-2s everyone associated with space ships back then. It was more delicate.. somehow fragile-looking. It was hard to believe such a thing could hurtle anything into space...
...but it did. I don't know how many people remember December 6, 1957 these days, but it was a big day for me, the day the Space Age truly began. The Vanguard satellite may not have been particularly impressive, but it was the first, and it was American.
I picked up my first copy of Aviation Weekly right after that launch. That's when I first discovered that the Soviets also had a space program in the works. Of course, it was expected that we would beat the Russians into space, but I remember an editorial in that issue; apparently, the Soviets had announced in September that a satellite launch was imminent. I don't know what happened, but there wasn't a Russian orbital flight until early in 1958 (trivia: They called it "Sputnik").
There was not much fanfare associated with the Russian launch, and I was more interested in subsequent Vanguard flights (of which two out of the following seven launches were successes). Then there were the Air Force launches--Discoverer, Pioneer and Trailblazer. I followed every one with eagerness. My friends called me "Space Case" since I was about the only kid in school who'd caught rocket fever. This passion never waned. I graduated from college with a degree in aerodynamic engineering right around the time of the first manned space mission, and I did work on some of the first communications satellites for RW in the late 70s.
Now I'm an old man of 67. I retired two years ago, but I still follow the aerospace news. It's hard to believe how much our lives have been changed by the services satellites offer us: Live international broadcasts, navigational guidance for ships with 1km accuracy, 24-hour military surveillance, real-time broadcasts from moon probes... What an amazing time we live in, at least it is to me. I just hope I live to see the day one of Mankind's oldest dreams is fulfilled, immortalized in the works of people like Verne and Burroughs: the day a person flies to the Moon. Except, I don't know how likely that is. It seems so few people ever really caught the space bug.
Am I really alone? Does anyone else remember the Fall of '57? Are there any other oddballs who followed humanity's forays beyond the atmosphere? Post your reminiscences here, if you please.
(Moderators, please don't move this thread. I know it's not AH, but who knows? Maybe the topic will stimulate contemplation of "might-have-beens")
I remember being unable to sleep that night, my mind filled with visions of space ships and moon bases. Instead, I read the third installment of Heinlein's latest serial, Citizen of the Galaxy, in that month's Astounding. I must have stayed up until 3 am. But it was a weekend, so I could afford a sleepless night. And what are such things to a twelve-year old?
The launch of Vanguard's TV-2 on October 23 earned a three column insert in the "big" local paper. The top two stages were inert, but that was when I got to see pictures of a real space rocket. It didn't look anything like the V-2s everyone associated with space ships back then. It was more delicate.. somehow fragile-looking. It was hard to believe such a thing could hurtle anything into space...
...but it did. I don't know how many people remember December 6, 1957 these days, but it was a big day for me, the day the Space Age truly began. The Vanguard satellite may not have been particularly impressive, but it was the first, and it was American.
I picked up my first copy of Aviation Weekly right after that launch. That's when I first discovered that the Soviets also had a space program in the works. Of course, it was expected that we would beat the Russians into space, but I remember an editorial in that issue; apparently, the Soviets had announced in September that a satellite launch was imminent. I don't know what happened, but there wasn't a Russian orbital flight until early in 1958 (trivia: They called it "Sputnik").
There was not much fanfare associated with the Russian launch, and I was more interested in subsequent Vanguard flights (of which two out of the following seven launches were successes). Then there were the Air Force launches--Discoverer, Pioneer and Trailblazer. I followed every one with eagerness. My friends called me "Space Case" since I was about the only kid in school who'd caught rocket fever. This passion never waned. I graduated from college with a degree in aerodynamic engineering right around the time of the first manned space mission, and I did work on some of the first communications satellites for RW in the late 70s.
Now I'm an old man of 67. I retired two years ago, but I still follow the aerospace news. It's hard to believe how much our lives have been changed by the services satellites offer us: Live international broadcasts, navigational guidance for ships with 1km accuracy, 24-hour military surveillance, real-time broadcasts from moon probes... What an amazing time we live in, at least it is to me. I just hope I live to see the day one of Mankind's oldest dreams is fulfilled, immortalized in the works of people like Verne and Burroughs: the day a person flies to the Moon. Except, I don't know how likely that is. It seems so few people ever really caught the space bug.
Am I really alone? Does anyone else remember the Fall of '57? Are there any other oddballs who followed humanity's forays beyond the atmosphere? Post your reminiscences here, if you please.
(Moderators, please don't move this thread. I know it's not AH, but who knows? Maybe the topic will stimulate contemplation of "might-have-beens")
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