The Birth of Explorer I

did not leave Pasadena for the Cape on 26 January 1958 as planned. I felt that I had to complete the Geiger-MUller (GM) counter calibrations for the Deal II payloads and delayed my departure until the very last minute. I finally left for Florida on Tuesday morning, 28 January 1958, staying overnight in Orlando. Early the next morning the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) office at Cape Canaveral sent a car to take me, first to Cocoa Beach for check-in at a motel on the strip, and then to Cape Canaveral.

Because of my delay, I arrived there while the first (soon aborted) Deal I countdown was already in progress. I did not view my late arrival as a serious problem, as JPL had the overall responsibility for preparing the relatively simple Deal I payload. I did arrive in time to observe the final Standard Source-Standard Distance check of the cosmic ray instrument in the Spin Test Facility before the satellite was installed atop the launch vehicle.

I had expected to be at some support facility for the countdown and launch where I could monitor my instrument’s performance. I was terribly disappointed to discover that JPL did not have any station available for me. I had no alternative but to join the crowd of general onlookers to listen to the countdown over the Cape-wide public address system.