All of our lives changed, the Russians launched an 185 pound sphere called Sputnik. It had a 1 watt transmitter and broadcast a radio signal for 21 days until it's batteries died. Many of us heard the beep beep on tv or the radio as it flew through space. It burned up in the earth's atmosphere after 3 months. School curriculum soon changed and the space race was on!

I was about to turn five and the space race was started.
A decade later, we had a manned moon landing and safe return.
To this day, no other country has been able to do what we did with transistors, vacuum tube technology, and slide rules.

I was a twinkle in my daddy's eye. Born 6 months later in 1958

A buddy and I were at a football game. Jacksonville v Tarboro. His dad picked us up and told us the Russians had launched a satellite into space. I had visions of revolving orbs spitting ray guns at invading aliens with space cadets manning the helms, Tom Corbett and Buck Rogers style.

Imagine my disappointment.

I was 4 months old so the idea of ray guns wasn’t on my baby radar.

I turned 10 shortly after that, and recall it being all over the news and discussed in school. It was, on one hand, exciting news about space exploration, but on the other hand, frightening because the godless Russians were ahead of us and have what could be a terrible weapon in space. What if they got to the moon and put a weapon there? Thank heavens we didn't yet have the 24/7 news programs.

But, in what seemed like a short time, Thanksgiving then Christmas came, then spring, then summer vacation and baseball and life was good for a 10 year old kid.

Bob

The US would have launched the first satellite had there been no political interference:

“The U.S. Earth satellite program began in 1954 as a joint U.S. Army and U.S. Navy proposal, called Project Orbiter, to put a scientific satellite into orbit during the International Geophysical Year. The proposal, using a military Redstone missile, was rejected in 1955 by the Eisenhower administration in favor of the Navy's Project Vanguard, using a booster advertised as more civilian in nature.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explorer_1

After failed Vanguard launches, Explorer was finally given the go-ahead.

If you please.

quote:

Originally posted by Appliance Brad:
I was a twinkle in my daddy's eye. Born 6 months later in 1958

Your math does not check out.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
The US would have launched the first satellite had there been no political interference

Alan Shepard would have been the first human in space had there been no political interference. The Challenger disaster would not have happened had there been no political interference.

NASA is as bad as any other fed.gov agency with politics and career considerations.

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
The Challenger disaster would not have happened had there been no political interference.

For my own edification, what was the political interference with this one? Not challenging you, just curious as I don't know.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
The Challenger disaster would not have happened had there been no political interference.

For my own edification, what was the political interference with this one? Not challenging you, just curious as I don't know.

Internal politics in NASA management. Nobody wanted to look bad to the money source (Congress). There was huge pressure on every launch not to delay, and most certainly not to be part of the cause of any delay. Funding for upgraded systems was approved but the new systems were not yet designed nor was the funding ever certain.

Two days before I was born. When I was a little kid, my older siblings, aunts, and uncles called me "Sputnik".

Gotcha. It seemed to me that it was a just a fluke, but I can see how cutting corners and "just go" could have played a part.

A few years later, the US tried to launch a rocket.

They called it Stay-put-nik.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
If you please.
<flash video snipped>

Thank you TMats. I last heard “Telstar” decades ago.

The video was fun too. The guy on the keyboard looked as though he’d just got home from his job at the bank. The guitar guys looked over-dosed on something.