Keep Watching the Skies!: The Story of Operation Moonwatch and the Dawn of the Space Age
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.20 (838 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0691128545 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 344 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-05-05 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Around the world, thousands of teenagers, homemakers, teachers, amateur astronomers, and other citizens joined Moonwatch teams. In Keep Watching the Skies!, Patrick McCray tells the story of this network of pioneers who, fueled by civic pride and exhilarated by space exploration, took part in the twentieth century's biggest scientific endeavor. Against the backdrop of the space race and technological advancement, ordinary people developed an unprecedented desire to contribute to scientific knowledge and to investigate their place in the cosmos. Despite their diverse backgrounds and nationalities, they shared a remarkable faith in the transformative power of science--a faith inspired by the Cold War culture in which they lived. Using homemade telescopes and other gadgets, Moonwatchers witnessed firsthand the astonishing beginning of the Space Age. When the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957, thousands of ordinary people across the globe seized the opportunity to participate in the start of the Space Age. Drawing on previously unexamined lett
"Excellent Book" according to Ted Molczan. W. Patrick McCray's Keep Watching the Skies! tells the story of Operation Moonwatch, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's program through which thousands of volunteer amateur observers around the world participated in tracking the first artificial satellites launched by the U.S.A. and the U. Randall Borst said When the future was new. It's hard to believe that just over 50 years ago people were excited about science. It was seen as a solution to the world's problems instead of the problem itself. Citizens were so scientifically engaged that when asked by a research institution to help out with something as arcane as tracking ea. Story of a unique time Robin Gill Patrick McCray's latest effort is another well-documented story of the intersection of science and history in recent US history. The book tells the story of Project Moonwatch, the grassroots effort to track the first satellites launched into earth orbit.Much like Apollo after it, Moonwatch was the
McCray, professor of history at the Univ. . At a time when very little was known about the ionosphere and upper atmosphere, armchair astronomers of all backgrounds turned out in the thousands to aid the scientific pursuit of knowledge (and, to a lesser extent, fight the Commies); when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, it was the Moonwatchers who provided the first observations to astronomers at the Smithsonian Astronomical Observatory. This pop science takes a fascinating look at a fundamental, and almost-forgotten, moment in Space Age history. From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. McCray has included a useful bibliography, and a helpful list of acronyms and people, but his text is jargon-free. All rights reserved. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. The project's mastermi