The Space Race

Sputnik I

Let’s hop once again into the Wayback Machine and set the dial for October 4, 1957. When we arrive we see the smoke billowing from beneath the rocket. A moment later it begins rising into the sky. And at the very tip of the rocket is the satellite that started it all.

Sputnik 1 was the world's first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite. Launched into a low altitude elliptical orbit by the Soviet Union, it was the first in a series of satellites collectively known as the Sputnik program. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1's success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space Race within the Cold War.

Sputnik-1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year. This was an undertaking by 68 nations and involved exploration into thearctic, the sea, and outer space. Sputnik helped to identify the upper atmospheric layer's density, through measuring the satellite's orbital changes. It also provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere.

During its journey, the satellite traveled at 18,000 miles per hour. It emitted radio signals which were monitored by amateur radio operators throughout the world. The signals continued for 22 days until the transmitter batteries ran out on October 26, 1957. Sputnik 1 burned up on January 4, 1958 as it fell from orbit upon reentering Earth's atmosphere, after traveling about 37 million miles and spending 3 months in orbit.


Today's video contains a documentary of the program. As mentioned earlier, it was a bit of a surprise to American that the Russians had beaten us to the punch. A month later, Russia launched Sputnik II, carrying a stray dog found wandering the streets of Moscow, and she became the first living creature launced into space.

I remember well those fall and winter evenings when the sky was clear and the millions of stars winked in the heavens. It wasn’t unusual on those nights to see Sputnik travelling across the night sky. If you spent time gazing at the stars and looking for Sputnik, leave a comment and tell us about it. 

The Computer Era...

In the Beginning

Do you ever stop to wonder how this whole computer universe began? Let's hop in the WaybackMachine, set the dial for 1951, and take a look at the UNIVAC I.

Look! There's Walter Cronkite.

The UNIVAC I (UNIVersalAutomatic Computer I) was the first commercial computer made in the United States. In the years before successor models of the UNIVAC I appeared, the machine was simply known as "the UNIVAC". I wonder if they used a similar system when naming Preparation H. Was there a Preparation G?

See those four people to the right? Click on it to enlarge. Deer in the headlights?

The first UNIVAC was delivered to the United States Census Bureau on March 31, 1951. The fifth machine (built for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission) was used by CBS to predict the result of the 1952 presidential election. With a sample of just 1% of the population it correctly predicted that Eisenhower would win.

Originally priced at $159,000, the UNIVAC I rose in price until they were between $1,250,000 and $1,500,000. (They were selling a lot of them to the government.)
UNIVAC I used 5,200 vacuum tubes and weighed 29,000 pounds. The Central Complex alone (i.e. the processor and memory unit) was 14 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 8.5 feet high.



The girl pictured above is hypnotized 
by the wonder of it all. 

The girl on the right is

searching for the
Control-Alt-Delete thingy.

So if you get weary carrying your laptop back and forth to work or around the house, be grateful someone figured out how to compress that UNIVAC I equipment into a much smaller and lighter package.

We've come a long way, baby!

Into the Wayback Machine

And back to the fifties we go . . .

It's going to be a long journey. There's a lot to talk about. And whether you're a member of the Baby Boomer Generation or not, it was an interesting time in American history. 

This first post will be a brief summary of what I have in mind and the types of things you'll be seeing on here as we continue.

First of all, there are multiple subject areas we need to cover. And we'll cover all of them. Things like current events, food, science and technology, sports, movies, television, Disneyland, Route 66, toys and games, music and teen idols. And, of course, those great automobiles of the 50s.

So let's hop into the Wayback Machine, buckle up, and hang on for a ride back to a simpler time. I'll be driving, but I would love to hear your comments along the way. Don't forget to use that COMMENT link at the bottom of this post so you can tell me what you think and what you'd like to see on here. There's probably a lot of things I don't remember. I'm a Baby Boomer, and we tend to forget things.