310 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1961 



about science and the world. They were also men of considerable 

 versatility and strong character, as indeed they had to be, for they 

 were about to undertake a kind of do-it-yourself project, often a one- 

 man project until assistant observers could be obtained. They were 

 men who could not only operate the Baker-Nunn camera but also 

 drive nails, who could not only work cooperatively and efficiently with 

 scientists but also deal with strangers in strange lands. 



With these characteristics went another that was to create some 

 difficulties. They were not organization men. Chosen for their 

 ability to make decisions, they frequently proceeded to make them in 

 contradiction to and sometimes in defiance of orders from Cambridge. 

 Chosen for their sense of responsibility, they often felt themselves 

 to be more responsible to the station than to the over-all operation of 

 the Satellite-tracking Program. Chosen for their ability to improvise, 

 they sometimes improvised in ways that lessened the scientific value 

 of their observations. In other words, they were pioneers, with all 

 the strengths and weaknesses of the pioneer type. 



The first observer to be hired was Samuel Whidden who had had 

 several years as an observer on the Harvard Meteor Program. While 

 he was to assist in the details of station establishment, the preparation 

 for station operations, and the selection and training of other observers, 

 it is perhaps characteristic of the program that his versatility was put 

 to work on the choice of film for the Baker-Nunn camera. 



By the summer of 1957 classes for the observers had been started. 

 Courses in basic electronics and in the maintenance of the Norrman 

 time standard were given by Andrew B. Ledwith. Classes in spherical 

 astronomy, photography, and the reduction of observations were pre- 

 sented by other members of the stajff. Plans then called for the first 

 group of observers to go to Organ Pass, N. Mex., for final training as 

 soon as the first Baker-Nunn camera had been received there. 



THE MOONWATCH PROGRAM 



During the summer and early fall of 1956, the appeal of the Ob- 

 servatory for Moonwatch teams was heard and heeded throughout 

 the world. That summer the Observatory issued the first Bulletin for 

 Visual Observers of Satellites, in which the code word Moonwatch 

 was adopted officially. Incidentally, another code name had been a 

 strong contender — SEESAW, for "I see it, I saw it" ; fortunately, it 

 lost. 



In that first Bulletin appeared a brief outline of the objectives, or- 

 ganization, qualifications for observers, and operational procedures of 

 Moonwatch. Each team was to set up a "fence" of observers. When 

 an observer watching one "picket" of the fence saw the satellite, he was 

 to signal to the timekeeper and theji obtain a precise fix of the object 



