Saturday, September 29, 2007

Sputnik

When I was 12 years old a bright star appeared in the sky. Well, not so bright. But it was a big deal to me. You see, my cousin John and I at that time spent a lot of time looking at the sky thru binoculars and telescopes. We knew much about astronomy. It was easy to do in North Dakota. You can see a lot of stars in the cold clear dark night.

Not so much in Illinois. Too much ground light.

I miss the Milky Way, Orion, The Big and Little Dipper, Polaris, Seven Sisters, Mars, Jupiter....

In Oct of 1957 the Russians launched Sputnik. I vividly recall going out on my front lawn and seeing it move across the sky about 7 at night.

It was a big deal.

It still is.

I just can't believe it was 50 years ago. Seems like it was only yesterday, 50 years ago.

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