NASA
It was the year 1958, the beginning of the space race between the U.S and the Soviet Union. The U.S launched its inaugural human space flight program, project Mercury. The aim of the program was to launch man into space orbit and bring him back safely before the Soviet Union.
The project Mercury’s successful accomplishments opened the way for the project Geminin and then the grand project Apollo which saw enabled man to step foot on the moon. The man we all know to be Neil Armstrong.
The projects Mercury and Gemini were the key projects that orchestrated the biggest step man took for technological developments today. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) created stations in various locations all over the world in order to be able to control and coordinate the total activities that was going to be taking place. In the city of Kano, Kano state, Nigeria, one of the stations was put in place. The station that was put in place was known as NASA’s tracking station 5. This station was important for the foundation for transportation of man out of earth’s vicinity.
The project Mercury, initiated by the United States spanned from the year 1958 to the year 1963. This project was intended to only launch man into space and safely bring him back to earth. The projects aim included six manned flights from the year 1961 to the year 1963. The instruction given to the astronauts was to orbit the spacecraft around earth and return back to the planets vicinity.
This project actually came to be at a time where there was no internet and the project became responsible for the research and implementation of the development of the world’s first global communication network. This network allowed space stations, space crafts and astronauts to communicate with themselves.
Data from the NASA historical archives makes it known that the Mercury communication network had 102000 miles of teletype lines, 60000 miles of telephone lines and 15000 miles of high speed data lines. These materials made up the first global communication network.
This network was made for ground stations like the tracking station 5 in Kano. Every station was equipped with telemetry tracking and computation systems even flight control and monitoring systems were made available as the safety of the astronauts were also taken as priorities. The stations also had multi-frequency air-to-ground reception and remoting provision. An intercom system was used to converse with several people actually initiating the conversation and other people actively listening.
Launching a space craft into low-earth orbit needed ground controls and tracking stations in locations along the earth’s orbital path. For this reason, NASA constructed 15 tracking stations at various strategic locations all over the world. Kano was included in this locations.
The station in Kano (NASA tracking station 5) among others played a crucial role in tracking and controlling such space craft during Project Mercury. NASA tracking station 5 had a device called the telemetry system the telemetry system provided reception of aero medical data of astronauts for display, this data included respiration, EGC, blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature. This structure played a very important role in keeping the astronauts safe and also gave scientists opportunities to research on the effect of planetary travels on the human body. The station also had a dual ground command system which provided ground command backup to important space craft features like abort and retro fire features.
These stations were responsible for the control of flight and also communication functions such as tracking, commanding (dual command system), voice communication and telemetry reception as well as documentation of every single details of the process with the spacecraft.
During the span of this project, the U.S processed more than 1000 tons of cargo through specially chosen U.S depots that were held responsible for the shipment of the materials to every station worldwide. These cargos contained mainly communication and electronic equipment and tracking devices also.
According to NASA, local specialist in Kano such as builders also worked with NASA to survey the land and establish the most precise angles for radar antennae used in that location to communicate with the space craft as it hovered above the horizon line or below the horizon line to be mounted.
Owing to the success of project Mercury, project Gemini was initiated with the aim of developing deep space travel techniques to aid the Apollo mission. This project used the same ground station including station 5. This shows how important the station was to the mission Apollo. Due to the success of the Gemini project NASA was confident to undergo project Apollo.
July 21st 1969 the famous words came to light “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” as Neil Armstrong became the first person to step foot on the surface of the moon. This wouldn’t have been possible without the NASA ground stations worldwide including Nigeria’s very own NASA tacking station 5.
The Kano station was decommissioned in December 1966 after the completion of the Gemini project. The NASA space station in Kano was instrumental in the projects Mercury, Gemini and the grand project Apollo, which put a man on the moon. The NASA station 5 aided these projects to provide critical communication and tracking functions, thereby resulting in the significant advancements in space flight techniques and technology.
Nigeria later launched her own space program in 2003 with the aim of sending an astronaut to space by 2030.
