50 years of the Space Race

[Naz]

Once upon a time there was only one satellite to spoil the astrophoto 8) Then on this day in 1957 the Russians spoilt it

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7027199.stm

naz

[The Warthog]

I remember the time. We boarded the ship to come to Canada on October 10, 1957, and the newsreels we saw on the ship were still talking about Sputnik.

If I've got this right, it weighed 900 lb., and all it did was go 'beep.'

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

If I've got this right, it weighed 900 lb., and all it did was go 'beep.'

Nah, that's Roy (Chubby) Brown you're thinking of. Never been exported to Canada to my knowledge, so you might not know him.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[Naz]

183 lb according to the BBC WH, and was about two times bigger than a football (soccer). RCB is slightly larger KK

naz

[BWBlackett]

Today is also the 50th Anniversary of the Lovell Telescope @ Jodrell Bank. We (Blackpool & District Astronomical Society) had Prof Ian Morison give us a talk last night on it's development and use during the early years of the space race. It is still doing some very useful work now.

Ian pointed us at his pages on the Jodrell Bank website which have a useful Night Sky Guide

http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/public/nightsky.html

and an award system which may be useful doe young (or not do young) budding astronomers, the The Astronomical A-List: Observing Awards

http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/public/AList/AListconst.html

http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/public/AList/Awards.html

Brian.