I was in 7th grade and already interested in ham radio. I built my first receiver the next summer and received my Novice license (KN8MWA) on Nov, 11, 1958. That is 60-years ago! My first reaction was anger that the Russians beat us. So many Vanguard rocket failures did that. It took an army rocket (Jupiter-C?) under the guidance of German WWII rocket scientist to finally launch our first orbiting satellite. Little did I know that I would be working for NASA 13 years later.

Of course the Russians also used WWII German rocket scientist.

73, Ed - KL7UW http://www.kl7uw.com Dubus-NA Business mail: dubususa@gmail.com