a story lives forever
Register
Sign in
Form submission failed!

Stay signed in

Recover your password?
Register
Form submission failed!

Web of Stories Ltd would like to keep you informed about our products and services.

Please tick here if you would like us to keep you informed about our products and services.

I have read and accepted the Terms & Conditions.

Please note: Your email and any private information provided at registration will not be passed on to other individuals or organisations without your specific approval.

Video URL

You must be registered to use this feature. Sign in or register.

NEXT STORY

The Russians succeed in sending a rocket to the Moon

RELATED STORIES

The American rockets fail to get to the Moon
Bernard Lovell Astronomer
Comments (0) Please sign in or register to add comments

I was in the Soviet Union in August 1958 on the date when the Americans were going to launch this probe to the Moon. They did so and I managed to get on the telephone from... via a linguist who could speak 15 languages. He managed to get the telephone network through to Jodrell Bank where I learned that the rocket had been launched but had failed a few seconds after lift-off. This was repeated a second time and in October they launched their second attempt, they called them Pioneers then, the Pioneer II, and this was more successful. It travelled... it was located by the telescope and we tracked it for, I think, 18,000 or 19,000 miles in... into space when it became perfectly clear it was nowhere like going to the Moon. And, in fact, it then fell back to Earth, but nevertheless, had collected some important data from the ionosphere and the amount of interplanetary space for which it had... so I think there was one other attempt which had a similar effect. So the Americans had failed with their new missile, to... new launching rocket to send a payload to the Moon.

Bernard Lovell (1913-2012), British radio astronomer and founder of the Jodrell Bank Observatory, received an OBE in 1946 for his work on radar, and was knighted in 1961 for his contribution to the development of radio astronomy. He obtained a PhD in 1936 at the University of Bristol. His steerable radio telescope, which tracked Sputnik across the sky, is now named the Lovell telescope.

Listeners: Megan Argo Alastair Gunn

Megan Argo is an astronomer at the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory researching supernovae and star formation in nearby starburst galaxies. As well as research, she is involved with events in the Observatory's Visitor Centre explaining both astronomy and the history of the Observatory to the public.

Alastair Gunn is an astrophysicist at Jodrell Bank Observatory, University of Manchester. He is responsible for the coordination and execution of international radio astronomical observations at the institute and his professional research concerns the extended atmospheres of highly active binary stars. Alastair has a deep interest and knowledge of the history of radio astronomy in general and of Jodrell Bank in particular. He has written extensively about Jodrell Bank's history.

Tags: Soviet Union, the Moon, Jodrell Bank

Duration: 1 minute, 40 seconds

Date story recorded: January 2007

Date story went live: 05 September 2008