SATELLITE-TRACKING PROGRAM — ^HAYES 321 



star photographs taken with it be available for showing at that meet- 

 ing, in order to scotch these unfounded runiors. He asked that con- 

 tracts for the optics and the camera be expedited. 



From late August on, one member of the administrative staff and one 

 or t\yo members of the technical staff of the Observatory were assigned 

 to temporary duty at Boiler & Chivens and another such group at 

 the Perkin-Elmer Corp. Both plants then scheduled night and week- 

 end shifts. Boiler & Chivens subcontracted some of their work to 

 a number of small concerns in the Los Angeles area and acted as an 

 assembler and manager in the final manufacturing process. 



By the middle of September Perkin-Elmer completed the first set 

 of optics and the first aspheric-surfaced back-up plate, and these were 

 rushed to South Pasadena. 



Meanwhile, Boiler & Chivens had continued production of the 

 camera, and a building had been constructed for its testing. Large 

 enough to house six Baker-Nunn cameras at one time, it had a sliding 

 roof over half of it so that the cameras could photograph the sky 

 through an angle of nearly 90°. 



The street lights aromid the Boiler & Chivens plant might have 

 interfered with the testing program at night, and although the city 

 fathers could not turn them off, they did paint them out. They also 

 had the branches trimmed off several trees in order to provide a rea- 

 sonably clear horizon. 



During the last week of September the first camera was completely 

 assembled; film was run through it, and adjustments were made so 

 that the camera could handle it properly. A photographic room was 

 set up, and delivery was accepted of several thousand feet of the ID-2 

 film. 



On October 2 the camera was moved out of the factory assembly 

 area into the test building that had just been completed, although the 

 sliding roof had not yet been put in place. That evening and the fol- 

 lowing morning, members of the Observatory then began to test the 

 camera by photographing the stars. After careful focusing, the final 

 alignment of the optics was only a few thousandths of an inch off from 

 what had been calculated. The staff then decided that certain minor 

 mechanical alterations and adjustments would have to be made, and 

 that these would require that the camera be torn down, some machin- 

 ing done, and the camera put back together again. 



The next day was October 4, 1957 ! 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



Dr. Fred L. Whipple and Mrs. Lyle G. Boyd provided the oppor- 

 tunity and offered the encouragement for the writing of this little 

 history. 



