THE GREAT MULLARD MAGIC BLOG — explorer 1

I just love this RCA advertisement, dating from 1965 proclaiming that a new kind of transistor will help man land on the moon.  Did transistors play a part in the space race and when did the first transistor go into space I hear you muse, well, I think I can tell you a little bit about this. As a consequence of  the launch of Sputnik on October 4, 1957, people around the globe heard Sputnik’s unassuming beep beep for 21 days, as this first-ever satellite orbited Earth. And they were riveted. It was over their heads and now they knew how chicken-licken had...