Thread: Sputnik 50th Anniversary

Did you ever work with Ian Mackenzie, Ron?

GQ

Originally Posted by Quiggers

Did you ever work with Ian Mackenzie, Ron?

I can't place him.

Ron

No worries Ron, just an old mate who spent much time in the early 70s at a little satcom site south of Canberra...

I'd really like to write a book (or two) one day, about the people I've met, worked with etc,
there are some truly fascinating stories about... the movie 'the dish' addressed a few,
but so many Aussies have worked on so many amazing 'stellar' projects....

..in his later life, I worked with a cine camera man, Ron Lowe, who during the 60s,
shot much of the footage of the Blue Streak launches (and other devices) at Woomera...

...then there were the comms guys who were based at Antarctica...
I knew of one who took his '58 VW there...

GQ

Originally Posted by Quiggers

No worries Ron, just an old mate who spent much time in the early 70s at a little satcom site south of Canberra...

I'd really like to write a book (or two) one day, about the people I've met, worked with etc,
there are some truly fascinating stories about... the movie 'the dish' addressed a few,
but so many Aussies have worked on so many amazing 'stellar' projects....

..in his later life, I worked with a cine camera man, Ron Lowe, who during the 60s,
shot much of the footage of the Blue Streak launches (and other devices) at Woomera...

...then there were the comms guys who were based at Antarctica...
I knew of one who took his '58 VW there...

GQ

Ahh. I worked for OTC, not the govt. Re Antarctica, a lot of OTC guys went down there as radio ops.

Ron

Originally Posted by p38arover

It's the 50th Anniversary of the launch of the Russian Sputnik 1 satellite - the first man-made sateliite of the earth.

I must be getting old - I remember its launch being announced.

Ron

I have a very early memory of standing outside with my family in the dark craning up to see a "star" moving over. It was Sputnik, I was 2 1/2 approx. Aaaah! The olden days
Steve.

JJJ interviewed one of the aust scientists that was tracking it way back then at Melbourne Uni yesterday.

How things have improved.

Baz.

Originally Posted by p38arover

It's the 50th Anniversary of the launch of the Russian Sputnik 1 satellite - the first man-made sateliite of the earth.

I must be getting old - I remember its launch being announced.
Ron

As I was 11 at the time, I remember it well and I also remember the way it was seen as evidence that Russia was ahead of America in the space race and that consequently we should all be worried. I seem to remember that it was at about this time I read articles in American magazines about how US schools were failing and how the maths curriculum needed to be revised to catch up to the Russians.
Remember the icecreams on a stick called Sputniks - vaguely rocket shaped and chocolate coated?

Am I correct in understanding that Sputnik was not a true comms/repeater satellite in that it only transmitted it's own internally generated signal. It did not receive signals from earth and then re-transmit them.
it was purely to prove that the Russians could put a satellite in orbit before the Yanks.