Sputnik I (Dawn of the Space Age)

[Rick Kwan]

Anyone here remember Sputnik I? We are coming up to the 50th
anniversary of its launch on October 4, 1957.

How did you learn about it?
What impact did it have on you and your work?

It has been that we collect some comments from AIAA SF members about
their recollections of how the Space Age began, and this is the first
event in a series that would stretch from the launch of Sputnik I to
the establishment of NASA and Project Mercury.

Post your comments here. We'll probably edit them down and post the
on the main site at http://www.aiaa-sf.org.

--Rick

[Corwin H. Lakin]

I vividly remember hearing the beep, beep, beep on a ham rig as Sputnik
passed overhead. It definitely changed my career since the shift in
government priorities eliminated my flight-test work at Hughes Aircraft and
I was sent back to the factory. By 1959 I was at work on the pads at
Vandenberg helping launch Discoverer satellites for Lockheed.
It may have initiated my motto: "Space is the Answer."
-- Corwin H. Lakin