Into Orbit

On October 4, 1957, as student member of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency's rocket checkout team, I was inside the tail section of a Redstone Rocket heating temperature sensors with a hand-held hair dryer.  This process was to verify the proper installation and operation of the many temperature sensors that were flown on the military rockets.  We used various other methods to check the operation of the other sensors, such as pressure, vibration and position, that were required to track the performance of the rockets once they were delivered to be used to either carry bombs or, hopefully, to place satellites into earth orbit.  I was getting into position to heat another sensor when I heard a commotion outside the rocket and was instructed come out and listen to an important announcement.

In the Spring of 1957, we had finished tests on a Redstone Rocket specifically outfitted to deliver a satellite into earth orbit for the “International Geophysical Year Program” (IGY).  That rocket and its cargo were then placed into storage because “Washington” had made the decision that the Navy and its missile program would have the privilege of being the first to place a USA satellite into orbit.

Everyone knew that the Russians had a fledgling missile program and had announced that they planned to participate in the IGY with a satellite of their own, but it had been assumed by all that the USA would be the first nation to successfully place an artificial satellite into earth orbit.   That assumption had just been shattered.  The news had quickly spread throughout Redstone Arsenal and the nation that the Russians had placed the world's first artificial satellite into orbit.  Now every 90 minutes we were reminded that the USA had lost the Race to Space, as we listened to the beeping from Sputnik-I bragging to the world about the Communist triumph.