316 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1964 



tracking signals," and "to promptly forward to NAS and to AGI- 

 WARN all optical observations of all future U.S.S.R. launch satellit«s 

 received directly which are sufficiently reliable to use in orbit 

 predictions." 



These instructions were based on the assumption that the space 

 efforts of the United States and Russia durmg the IGY would be rela- 

 tively modest. In fact, however, before the IGY ended, on December 

 31, 1958, the United States had launched eight satellites, and the Soviet 

 Union three. Together, these objects represented a greater tracking 

 load than had been foreseen, and only the superb instrumentation of 

 the 12 Baker- Nunn camera stations and the highly efficient organiza- 

 tion of the more than 200 volunteer Moonwatch teams enabled the 

 Smithsonian to make observations of all of them. 



By mid-1958 it became apparent that both national and scientific 

 mterests demanded the continuance of the United States space pro- 

 gram beyond the end of the IGY. However, no civilian Government 

 agency had the funds, personnel, and desire to caiTy through the work. 

 As a provisional measure, the IGY was continued on an interim basis 

 as the International Geophysical Cooperation (IGC) and the sug- 

 gestion made that the National xldvisory Committee for Aeronautics 

 (NACA) assume the support of the various components of the IGY 

 tracking program. 



Meanwhile, a special committee, appointed by President Eisenhower 

 in 1957 to determine our national objectives and requirements in space, 

 recommended in March 1958 that a civilian agency be created to con- 

 duct a full-scale program of space exploration. On July 29, Congress 

 passed a bill creating the National Aeronautics and Space Adminis- 

 tration (NASA), and it was this organization that in the succeeding 

 months gradually would bring under its aegis most space activities 

 of the United States. 



By late 1958, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory no longer 

 was responsible for tracking every satellite launched. Instead, the 

 National Aeronautics and Space Administration assigned to the Ob- 

 servatory and to other tracking networks responsibility for specific 

 satellites. During the last quarter of the year, the Observatory was 

 formally assigned the tracking of Satellites 1958 Alpha, 1958 SI, 1958 

 82, and 1958 Epsilon. In addition, it made orbital and ephemeris 

 computations on 1958 /32 and 1958 Zeta for the purpose of preparing 

 predictions of passages. In the first quarter of 1959, the Observatory 

 was given responsibility for two additional objects, 1959 al and a2 

 launched on February 17. 



The Observatory also had a special assignment from the Army 

 Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA), which had total responsibility 

 for Explorers IV and V. Explorer V had an unsuccessful launching ; 

 but Explorer IV went into orbit on July 26, 1958. Designated Satel- 



