***Space Wars, Circa 1960- For Irving Jack, Class Of 1964

Click on the headline to link to a "Wikipedia" entry for "Sputnik, the first satellite sent into space from Earth.

Al Johnson, Class of 1964, comment:

I did not know Irving Jack in school nor do I know him now but I love the combination of his names and he was, in fact, as far as memory serves the science whiz of our class, the Class of 1964. I am sure that had I known him we could have solved that little technical launch problem that I describe below. Ah, but such is life.

Space Wars, Circa 1960

In high school did you ever get caught up in the euphoria over the space program?

We, all of us, are now old enough and presumably have seen enough of this sorry old world, to have become somewhat inured to the wonders of modern technology. Just witness the miracle of cyberspace that we are communicating through. My question goes back to the mist of time when humankind had just developed the technology to reach for the stars, and we had the capacity to wonder.

For myself, I distinctly remember, as I am sure that you do as well, sitting in some North Quincy High classroom as the Principal came over the P.A. system and hooked us up with the latest exploit in space. John Glenn's trip around the earth comes readily to mind. My friends, I will go back even further, back to elementary school, when we were just becoming conscious of the first explorations of space. The reaction to the news of Sputnik, the artificial satellite that the Russians had put up in 1957, drove many of us to extend our range of scientific knowledge.

I vividly remember trying to make rockets, in the basement of our family apartment, by soldering tin cans together fused with a funnel on top. I also remember taking some balsa wood, fashioning a rocket-type projectile, putting up wiring between two poles, inserting a CO2 cartridge and hammering away. Bang!!!

After that experience my scientific quest diminished. Moreover, I became much more concerned about the fate of my fellow earthlings and trying to correct a few injustices in this world, but that is another story. Now that I think about it the question posed above really is aimed at those, unlike myself, who moved beyond boyish (or girlish)fantasies and used that youthful energy to get serious about science.