344 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 63 



Whipple and Hynek then decided upon an interim program for 

 satellite observations, making use of the super-Schmidt camera. One 

 was shipped to the site of the station in Hawaii where, under the 

 direction of Dr. McCrosky, it was operational early in January 

 1958 and by March had taken a number of satellite films. 



A second super-Schmidt camera of the Harvard Meteor Project 

 was sent to Argentina under the supervision of Kenneth Morrison. 

 The observing station there had not yet been completed, the power 

 supply was not working, generators for auxiliary power had proved 

 unreliable, and a small fire had done some damage. The situation 

 was quite unmanageable, and Morrison was never able to use the 

 super-Schmidt to photograph either Sputnik I or Sputnik II. 



The Observatory also borrowed two Small Missile Telecameras 

 from the Army Bureau of Ordnance and shipped these to West Palm 

 Beach and to Curagao. By March these telecameras were tracking 

 satellites. Oinetheodolites were shipped to the stations in Peru, India, 

 and Iran as a possible backup system for the launching of an American 

 satellite. And, of course, the super-Schmidt at the New Mexico 

 station continued to photograph Sputniks I and II until the Baker- 

 Nunn camera was installed there. 



In mid-1958 this backup program was discontinued. 



FIRST OBSERVER-TRAINING PROGRAM 



In September 1957 the men who were to be the first observers at 

 the Baker-Nunn camera stations went to South Pasadena, Calif., 

 where they had an opportunity to become acquainted with the camera, 

 even though not a single one had yet been completed. They could 

 at least see the interior details and could discuss some of the operating- 

 problems that might arise. They were also of some help in looking 

 after the construction of the camera-house test facilities that were 

 being built next to the Boiler and Chivens plant. 



These first observers had little in common except an intense interest 

 in satellite tracking and a romantic desire to visit foreign places. 

 They had all been inspired by the vision and enthusiasm of Whipple 

 and Hynek, and they felt themselves to be pioneers in a new and 

 splendid enterprise. 



The group was led by Dr. Karl Henize, Observatory astronomer 

 for the satellite-tracking program. A man of unusual knowledge, 

 he taught as much by doing as by preaching. His deputy was James 

 Knight, welding engineer and lover of telescopes, whose ability to 

 organize men and equipment was invaluable to the program. He 

 later became senior observer at the station in Spain, and then station 

 chief in South Africa. Working closely with them in training the 

 fii*st observers was Aubrey Stinnett, whose knack with machinery 



