50 years of space (Not related to soaring)

I remember vividly a cold dark night in the New Mexico desert. It was
1957 and the Russians had just launched Sputnik. The USAF needed help
obtaining orbital data for the worlds first satellite.

I found myself, a 16 year old high school science club member, at a
theodolite staring at the star filled sky waiting for a tiny, swift
dot of light to cross the reticle. In my hand was a push button to
record a tone on a tape recorder as the dot made its crossing.

Another track on the same tape recorder captured the National Bureau
of Standards WWV time signal from a short wave radio receiver. A
plumb bob hung from the theodolite exactly over the tiny cross on a
master geodetic survey marker. The azimuth index had been set to a
airway light blinking Morse Code on the Franklin Mountains 60 miles
distant. The reticle was aligned as near as we could determine to
Sputniks expected path.

As I waited, my thoughts were of Clark, Heinlein and Asimov. It was no
longer science fiction, the space age had arrived and I was a small
part of it.

It didn't seem that strange. I was standing less than 60 miles from
Trinity where the first atomic bomb test had been conducted 12 years
earlier. I had watched captured German V2 rockets launched from White
Sands Missile Range.

Just after I recorded the passage of Sputnik, the moon rose over the
Sacramento Mountains. It was huge and bright. Bright enough that I
could read the vernier markings on the theodolite by its light. How
long until a human stands on its surface, I wondered.

It would just be 12 years. WWV ticked off the seconds.....

Bill Daniels

"Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote in message
. ..
I remember vividly a cold dark night in the New Mexico desert.

Nicely written Bill.

According to some articles I have read recently, (one written my Nikita
Khrushchev's son) the western world seemed to grasp the momentous significance
of that first tiny satellite before the folks who put it there did.

Vaughn

On Aug 9, 2:45 pm, "Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote:
I remember vividly a cold dark night in the New Mexico desert. It was
1957 and the Russians had just launched Sputnik. The USAF needed help
obtaining orbital data for the worlds first satellite.

I found myself, a 16 year old high school science club member, at a
theodolite staring at the star filled sky waiting for a tiny, swift
dot of light to cross the reticle. In my hand was a push button to
record a tone on a tape recorder as the dot made its crossing.

Another track on the same tape recorder captured the National Bureau
of Standards WWV time signal from a short wave radio receiver. A
plumb bob hung from the theodolite exactly over the tiny cross on a
master geodetic survey marker. The azimuth index had been set to a
airway light blinking Morse Code on the Franklin Mountains 60 miles
distant. The reticle was aligned as near as we could determine to
Sputniks expected path.

As I waited, my thoughts were of Clark, Heinlein and Asimov. It was no
longer science fiction, the space age had arrived and I was a small
part of it.

It didn't seem that strange. I was standing less than 60 miles from
Trinity where the first atomic bomb test had been conducted 12 years
earlier. I had watched captured German V2 rockets launched from White
Sands Missile Range.

Just after I recorded the passage of Sputnik, the moon rose over the
Sacramento Mountains. It was huge and bright. Bright enough that I
could read the vernier markings on the theodolite by its light. How
long until a human stands on its surface, I wondered.

It would just be 12 years. WWV ticked off the seconds.....

Bill Daniels

Cripes almighty Bill! That's just about electrifying. Sounds like
the opening chapter of a really great book. Keep it coming or at
least let us know when the release date is.

Regards,
Fellow space nut and former Lark wrangler Matt Michael

Bill Daniels wrote:
I remember vividly a cold dark night in the New Mexico desert. It was
1957 and the Russians had just launched Sputnik.
Bill Daniels

"It was a dark and stellar night"

Very nice passage. Very well done.

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