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These pictures were made by
Roland Burgan, General Manager/News Director for WHDF (now WCCY),
over two trips made over two consecutive days, Thursday, Jan.
28th, and Friday, Jan. 29th, 1971. Accompanying was a brother,
Read Burgan, then Gen. Mgr. of WGGL-FM (PBS station at MTU). Here,
Read Burgan, at road warning sign 2 miles E. Of Copper Harbor. |
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Preparations started in 1970,
but took until January, 1971, to bring things to readiness. Here,
the road entrance to the NASA/U of M Missile Launch Complex. The
winter of 1970/71 brought 279.7 inches of snow
to the Houghton County Airport, and well over 300 inches to the
Keweenaw. Bulldozers opened the 8 miles of road to Copper Harbor
most of the time, but sometimes only snowmobiles could get
through. |
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Having finally arrived, some of
the tracking antennas. The first launch had been set for Thursday,
but was postponed at the last minute by uncooperative high
altitude winds. The launch occurred at noon on Friday, Jan. 29th,
with temperatures hovering at a frosty -20 deg. F. |
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A NASA equipment van and more
telemetry antennas. |
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Read Burgan interviews Dr.
Allen (Univ. of Michigan), who headed up the research team. |
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Electronic equipment racks,
which filled a number of vans. |
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More electronics and data
recording equipment. |
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Another view of some of the
multitude of NASA telemetry and data recording gear. |
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And still more equipment. |
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Roland B. Burgan gets rundown
on Missile Status & Missile Launch Control Console. |
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NASA technicians check
equipment prior to noon launch. |
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The rocket storage, setup, and
fueling shed, also where payloads are monitored and checked out. |
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Rocket payload checkout
equipment. |
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Nike-Apache rocket (fueled),
from the Nike-Ajax booster end. The Ajax booster was fueled with
with a solid propellant. |
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Nike-Apache from the payload
end. |
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Waiting for rocket telemetry
data following the launch. The rocket peaked out at 118 miles high
over Lake Superior. |
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The post flight conference in
Copper Harbor, with Dr. Allen (L). The second launch would take
place Sunday, Jan. 31st. |
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And the launch...what a blast!
The heat melted the 3 ft. deep snow to within 100 feet of me. One
interesting note...about 20 seconds after launch, more birds
suddenly appeared overhead than had ever been seen before...they
literally blacked out the sky for nearly a minute. |
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For more information, see the following Daily
Mining Gazette articles:Jan.7, 1971 (two stories); Jan. 9; Jan.11;
Jan. 13; Jan. 15; Jan. 18; Jan. 23;
Jan.28; Jan.30 (two stories); Feb. 1; & Feb. 9th..
I would like to thank the winter Copper Harbor
businesses, the NASA team, and the U of M team for all their help
and assistance at the time.
[Photos: ©1998, Roland Burgan, Hancock, MI ].
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