NASA History Office Talks
NASA HISTORY TALK: “U.S. Missile Tracking Stations and the Politics of Military Basing across the Atlantic, 1947–1957” by Andrew Ross
Time/Date/Location: Wednesday, June 5, at 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET, virtual via Teams (no prior registration necessary)
Contact: Michele Ostovar, michele.e.ostovar@nasa.gov
About: Andrew Ross, a Ph.D. candidate in Georgetown University’s History Department, will discuss the diplomatic negotiations that went into establishing the hemispheric-spanning network of missile tracking stations, the “Atlantic range,” after World War II. Beginning at Cape Canaveral, the Atlantic range eventually extended past the coast of South Africa and included 13 integrated tracking stations to test, talk to, and track experimental missiles across thousands of miles of flight. But the politics of basing tracking stations on foreign soil was not simple. Ross will trace the diplomatic wranglings between the U.S. negotiators and the national and local interests at strategically placed tracking sites across the Atlantic.