THE SPACE RACE & THE MOON LANDING
These days we take satelites for granted. They assist us with communications, location and defence, amongst other things. And there is a space station up there at any one time. Even exploration of the planets is taken somewhat for granted.
My father used to tell us that we were growing up in a most interesting era. The war had finished and the sciences and technology was developing apace. This was one sphere. I mention elsewhere how my father would try to pick up the beep-beep-beep of passing satellites on his new radiogram.
Satellites
We had seen the Russian Sputnik satelite pass over. The paper had given forewarning and a crowd met on the horse race track in Stirling (a wide open space with less distraction from lights). Although still quite young, I remember it quite well.
Sputnik 1 sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artitficial Earth satellite. It was launched into an ellipticallow Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for three weeks before its three silver-zinc batteries became depleted. Aerodynamic drag caused it to fall back into the atmosphere on 4 January 1958.
It was a polished metal sphere 58 cm (23 in) in diameter with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. Its radio signal was easily detectable by amateur radio operators, and the 65°orbital inclination made its flight path cover virtually the entire inhabited Earth.
The satellite's success was unanticipated by the United States. This precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race. The launch was the beginning of a new era of political, military, technological, and scientific developments. [Wiki]
Telstar
The West, or more specifically, the USA, caught up and in 1962 launched the first of its communications satellites. Telstar refers to a series of communications satellites. The first two, Telstar 1 and Telstar 2, were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched atop of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962, successfully relayed the first television pictures, telephone calls, and telegraph images through space. It also provided the first live transatlantic television feed. Telstar 2 was launched May 7, 1963. Telstar 1 and 2—though no longer functional—still orbit the Earth. [Wiki].
The name of "Sputnik" had a sort of silly, irritating ring to it to western ears. "Telstar" though sounded like something beautiful, a little mystical. The band the Tornadoes quickly came out with a suitable tune and it still brings back memories of that time. https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?&q=Telstar+Music&&mid=7FA5694957D03707E3237FA5694957D03707E323&&FORM=VRDGAR
And so began a whole new era. Remember that until this moment, all communications (besides post) were via a world-wide network of heavy cables below the sea which in turn linked to the land based phone wire networks.
The first Man on the Moon
While the rest of the world watched the first men to step onto the moon on TV, we in SA still hadn't got TV and we missed it. Well not completely. We were able to read about it in the Daily Dispatch with even more extensive coverage in the Sunday papers. And my mother took be to see rush footage of it in the cinema. TV came in 1976. The moonlanding was in 1969.
During the build-up and also afterwards I started to collect press cuttings. I still have them stuck in a bk note book.
There were several more moon missions, but it is extraordinary to think that they stopped way back in 1972. They were costly, risky and out shadowed by other priorities. The end of the USSR meant that there was no more need to outdo the Russians and there have even been some cooperative missions to the international space stations with them.
Writing this in 2025 means that the context has changed yet again. War in space has not been realised, but using space to observe and inform war is under way. Russia has been at war with Ukraine and is threatening other European countries. The USA under Trump has developed a more directly cooperative relationship with Russia under Putin, which by mid-2025 is just starting to crack. Crews on the space stations are still multi-national. During a radio interview a British astronaut described seeing the bombs exploding in Ukraine. The Russians with him seemed happy with that.
I have been living in Scotland now for over 2 decades. Seeing satellites pass overhead not only requires straining my neck back, but making the best of cloudless skies and shivering on the occasional clear winter skies. They are best seen in early evening. The satellites do not actually glow, but need the light from the sun just set over the horizon.
I once saw an incredible sight that no one else seemed to. A smoiking fireball travelled roughly over Dumbarton eastwards. It appears to have been space debris reentering the earth's atmosphere.
WIKIPEDIA : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telstar
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_have_walked_on_the_Moon
