Word: moonwatch
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Sullivan's modest sphere would not be conspicuous to the naked eye, but it could be picked up easily with low-power moonwatch telescopes. Its great virtue would be its short life. Even on a comparatively high orbit, the tenuous bubble of nothing would be slowed by faint traces of air on the threshold of space. Following a circular course 300 miles above the earth, it would live for only about ten days, and its rapid changes of speed and altitude would measure air density much more accurately than the slow responses of heavier satellites...
...Cambridge Moonwatch team appealed yesterday for more student volunteers to aid the Smithsonian Observatory in watching the two Russian satellites...
...last definite observation of the rocket was received by the radar telescope in Palo Alto, California early Saturday evening. At about the same time, a Smithsonian moonwatch team in Los Altos saw a bright object in the sky, which Whipple said, "could well have been the rocket starting to glow as it neared...
...Until we have further evidence and information, we can say no more," Hynek stated. "We are awaiting information with interest, and we have not as yet alerted the Moonwatch team for a special death watch...
...network of observation posts, Smithsonian officials also point out, is much more extensive than the Russian system. The Soviets have even expressed a desire to purchase some American photographic tracking equipment and have modeled their Moonwatch telescopes closely after the U.S. prototype. The implication is that once the U.S. gets a satellite up, it will be in a better position to gain scientific information from it than the Soviets are with theirs...