Earlier in the month was the 60th anniversary of the launch of the first satellite: Sputnik. This moment was captured in rural England with the words of one of our readers.
Space Age?
We
all remember a time in our lives when we knew where we were when a certain
event happened: Princess Diana’s death, 9-11 and the assassination of President
Kennedy.
I
remember the first space flight of Sputnik.
I was about ten at the time and we recently had electricity and running
water installed in the farmhouse. We
were still trying to come to grips with that reality. Dad had the wireless on
to hear the farmer’s forecast for the day: sunny and warm. The news came on shortly after followed by a
news flash that the Russians had launched a rocket into space (Sputnik). This
was the stuff of the comic and adventure books my brothers read.
I
hurried to eat my breakfast to get to the school bus where the matter could be
discussed at length with my peers. The bus was abuzz with the news as we all
tried to get our heads around what was happening in the world. Going through the tranquil, rural countryside
the whole concept was truly hard to believe. We had not long learnt the reason Mount
Everest had snow and was cold even though it was nearer the sun. Mechanization was coming to the farms and the
future seemed to be coming fast.
 |
| Sputnik |
In
the following few months it was reported a dog was sent into space – now that
really upset the “school bus” crowd who decided they should send one of the
scientists instead!
It
came to me that there was a much greater world out there and it was up to us
and future generations to develop.
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