At 04:18 AM 11/24/2009 -0500, "Rich Dailey (Gmail)" <[email protected]> wrote: >An open invitation to the list to assist in jogging this not so young man's >memory... a bit of nostalgic research I'm doing. Thanks in advance for >everyone's >help. > >Back what I used to call "not so many" years ago, maybe 1980-1985, I >recall NASA >mailing me 2-line elements for specific satellites I had selected. These >would come in an >official manilla envelope with an extremely official looking NASA label >affixed to it. I recall >these would arrive in my mailbox every week or so. Later they dwindled to >perhaps one per month. > >At some point, they just stopped mailing them to me. Perhaps I had missed >a reminder to update >my subscription info. I'm assuming more than likely the free service just >became redundant, as BBS systems, >and later internet services began providing them online for free. Not to >mention the Oscar data provided >in the AMSAT Journal. > >An aside - you can skip this paragraph if you want me to cut to the quick >- I was living >in an apartment with my then new, now ex, wife. We were the only young >couple in the >complex. The ladies sitting in the breezeway thought we were gov'mt spies >receiving coded >instructions. They always kept one eye on us as we unlocked our mail slot, >and pulled out one of >these covert communiques. One accidentally was placed in another mail slot >once. The nice elderly woman >who lived below us returned it to me as I came home from work. She said, >"I think you'll be needing this." >Handed it to me, and hurried back into her apartment. I tucked it under >my coat, and went upstairs - I knew >there were eyes peering out behind every door. I can't say that I tried to >dispell the myth. My apologies, Ms. >Maxine, in Apt 303... God rest her soul. > >Question(s): >* Which NASA office did these originate from? >* When did this service begin/end? >* Could requests be made for any unclassified object in orbit, as long as >the designator was known? > >For your eyes only, (ssshhh...) > >Rich, N8UX
Hi Rich, I used to get the two line elements sets mailed to me too, and then I would type them into my tracking program manually.*ugly* They were mailed from GSFC. I don't know if they still do mail outs. When I was able to get them off the internet I had them stop sending me them by snail mail. Get on the AMSAT Keps list and you can get them by email. KB7ADL _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
