Tarheel Junior Historian
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1 MR TORIAN MAY. 1970 o Tar Heel Junior Historian Association Charter Charlie's Chats CHALLENGE Have A Good Summer Vacation! WHOSZIT? WISHYA' KNEWZIT! (See article page 2.) JAMES E. WEBB Former Administrator of National Aero- nautics and Space Administration (Native of Oxford, North Carolina) NASA Photo. MANY THANKS ! ! ! to all of you whose contributions have filled the Tar Heel Junior Historian magazine this year. It's been fun working with you. During your SUMMER VACATION why not plan a trip to one of your STATE HISTORIC SITES? Alamance Battleground, Burlington Fort Fisher, Kure Beach Aycock Birthplace, Fremont Historic Halifax, Halifax Bath, Bath Polk Birthplace, Pineville Bennett Place, Durham Somerset Place, Creswell Bentonville Battleground, Newton Grove Town Creek Indian Mound, Mount Gilead Brunswick Town, Southport Vance Birthplace, Weaverville Caswell Memorial—C.S.S. Neuse, Kinston OMAN May, 1970 Vol. 8, No. 4 CONTENTS Page North Carolina's Role in Space 2 This Is the Way 6 Junior Historian Puzzle 7 Look to the Stars 8 It Does Compute 10 Goin' Outa This World 10 Do You Know? 11 The Energy to Make It Possible 12 North Carolina Literary and Arts Competition 1969-1970 13 Going Things 14 Lunar Lines 16 TAR HEEL JUNIOR HISTORIAN is published four H. G. JONES times during the school year by the State Department Director of Archives and History. Copies are provided free to MRS. JOYE E. JORDAN club members. Individual and Library subscriptions Historic Sites and may be purchased at the rate of $1.00 per year or Museums Administrator $ .25 per issue. MRS. ELIZABETH B. BEARD Photography by: Charles A. Clark Editor Cover by: Jim Page, Conservation & Development MRS. NATALIE G. TALYOR (Prints of the total eclipse on March 7, 1970) Assistant Editor North Carolina's Role In Space Wright Brothers' first flight in progress, December 17, 1903. Prepared for the Tar Heel Junior Historian by National Aeronautics and Space Adminis- tration personnel. The Space Age, now in its second de- President, as designated by the Congress, cade, has its roots set deep in North Caro- issued a proclamation marking the 17th of lina; for it was here, sixty-seven years ago, December of each year as Wright Brothers that man's age-old dream of shaking loose Day and calling for its observance "with the bonds of gravity that kept him chained appropriate ceremonies and activities, both to earth finally was realized. Fantasy be- to recall the accomplishments of the Wright came fact on December 17, 1903, when Brothers, and to provide a stimulus to avia- Orville and Wilbur Wright took off from a tion in this country and throughout the sandy, dusty stretch of beach on the out- world." They represent, the President said, skirts of Kitty Hawk in their heavier-than- "mankind's ceaseless effort to make dreams air machine to fly 102 feet in 12 seconds. a reality." This important achievement was com- Almost sixty-six years after the Wright memorated at the close of last year by brothers made man's first powered flight, President Richard M. Nixon, whose college another dream became a reality when men days at Duke have bound him closely to landed on the moon—on another beach —the North Carolina. On December 11, 1969, the dusty lunar plain of the waterless Sea of Tranquility. North Carolina has had a signi- ceived his doctorate in medicine in 1963 ficant role in the fulfillment of that dream from the University of North Carolina. which, as President Nixon has said, not Dr. Thornton, who was selected as a sci- only emancipated man from his bondage to entist's astronaut by NASA in August, 1967, earth but expanded his horizons to the far is currently undergoing pilot training at reaches of space. North Carolina's direct Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. Following involvement with NASA's program to land his graduation from Chapel Hill, he served men on the moon began in 1960 at the very in the U. S. Air Force on active duty and outset of the space agency's astronaut train- was assigned to the USAF Aerospace Medi- ing program. From the first, the Morehead cal Division at Brooks Air Force Base, San Planetarium at Chapel Hill has been used to Antonio, Texas, where he became involved train astronauts in the skill of celestial in research in space medicine and sub- guidance and navigation. The planetarium sequently applied for astronaut training. Dr. has provided all Mercury, Gemini and now Thornton was born in Goldsboro, North Caro- Apollo astronauts with precise simulation lina. of the celestial environment in which they travel. In fact, A. F. Jenzano, director of Major Duke, born in Charlotte, attended the Morehead Planetarium, was responsible Lancaster High School in Lancaster, South for the creation and development of this Carolina, received his B.S. degree in Naval important aspect of NASA's astronaut train- Sciences from the U. S. Naval Academy in ing program. 1957 and his M. S. degree in Aeronautics and Among the astronauts who have been pre- Astronautics from the Massachusetts Insti- pared for earth orbital excursions into space tute of Technology in 1964. He was at the as well as for lunar flight are two native Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School sons: Major Charles Moss Duke, Jr. (USAF), as an instructor when he was notified of his and Dr. William Edgar Thornton, who re- selection as an astronaut. Major Duke was a Dr. William Edgar Thornton, Goldsboro, North Major Charles Moss Duke, Jr., Charlotte, North Carolina. Carolina. (NASA Photo) (NASA Photo), -3- ble." And in the Research Triangle the tech- nical research that will pave the way for tomorrow's engineering advances continues. In addition to this vital complex, North Carolina also is host to NASA's Rosman tracking station, dedicated in October 1963, one of the 17 NASA Space Tracking and Data Acquisition Network (STADAN) sta- tions that keep tabs on our unmanned satellites and receive data from them. The heart and brains of the station are its two 85-foot diameter antennae at Rosman and a NASA satellite tracking station, Rosman, North giant antenna in the Pisgah National Forest Carolina. ,.,.„. (NASA Photo) remote from the interference of man-made electrical devices. member of the astronaut support crew for Rosman station is located in the highest the Apollo 10 flight. He was selected as point in the state. Because of this excellent backup lunar module pilot for the Apollo 13 location, Rosman forms a key link in both mission. the east-west and the north-south chains Based solely on the pattern of achieve- of the STADAN network. More than sixteen ment by others from North Carolina, the high foreign countries have cooperated in the achievements in space by these young North tracking operations; and the STADAN net- Carolinians may be anticipated with con- work celebrated its 12th anniversary on siderable assurance. Indeed, our outstanding January 31 of this year. successes in space must be credited largely North Carolina's scope of participation to one North Carolinian, James E. Webb, in the space effort is also indicated by the NASA's Administrator from February, 1961, NASA research and training grants awarded through September, 1968. Under his manage- to its universities and the prime contracts ment and direction, the national space and subcontracts given to its business and effort, which began in the shadow of Sput- research firms. These total well over $8 nik, achieved unquestioned preeminence. million. The research grants cover studies This was the result of his implementation of a concept that drew together the efforts of government, industry, and the university community in a new kind of cooperative teamwork. An important example of this concept in action is the Research Triangle of North Carolina, anchored geographically at each corner respectively by Duke University at Durham, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State Uni- versity at Raleigh. In the center of this com- plex is the Research Triangle Park, a 5,000 acre home for both government agencies and industrial firms. Mr. Webb has described the work that goes on in the Research Triangle, Wheels Within Wheels is the impression given under the direction of universities afore- — by this giant space tracking antenna in a remote mentioned, as "the kind of teamwork that area of the Pisgah National Forest. has made our national space program possi- (NASA Photo) -4- in such fields as electrical engineering, provide the major transportation links be- mechanical engineering, mathematics, phy- tween our cities, states, and with the rest sics, and genetics at Duke University, the of the world. That first flight in 1903 has University of North Carolina, and North pushed us all closer together, and this Carolina State University. closer communication ultimately may bring the understanding that can result in the North Carolina and the nation have come realization of yet another dream the dream a long way since the 12-second flight of — of world peace. 120 feet 67 years ago. Not only have we crossed the vertical frontier and reached the moon, we also have vastly increased Now ranking eleventh in the nation in our ability to navigate in the airways sur- population, North Carolina is providing the rounding earth. We have planes that are economic, social and cultural incentives to longer by far than the distance covered by attract major aerospace industries and re- the Wright brothers in their pioneer flight. search organizations and the scientists, We can fly at supersonic speeds, cross engineers, and managers to operate them. oceans in hours. The earth's surface no One of the original 13 colonies, whose citi- longer is the main avenue for travel.