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This educational film "Students Track the Space Age" is part of a series of movies made by Hearst as part of the "Screen News Digest" series. This episode examines the space age and space race as seen by students and was presented by the Purdue National Bank of Lafayette.
The first segment depicts high school students near Cape Kennedy in Florida and how they utilized old military tracking equipment in order to listen to exchanges between the Cape Kennedy Control Center and Mercury astronauts in orbit. The second takes a look at the construction of Camp Century in Greenland which was initially to be a science and research base though years later it was proved to be a cover for Project Iceworm which was abandoned in 1967. A countdown for a rocket launch is heard as students listen in and work with their own modified and upgraded military tracking equipment (:54). The students attend Cocoa High School (1:16) in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Students are seen milling through the campus which is situated near Cape Kennedy (1:28) and this exuded a heavy influence over the students and their education. Students are seen in class at Satellite High School (1:37) at Satellite Beach. They are seen working to prepare and publish the school newspaper called the ‘Telecaster’ (1:53). In the science classroom, a cathode ray oscillograph (2:06) and Galvanometer (2:28) are used. Over three years, the students had been able to use the formerly obsolete military tracking equipment to form their own satellite tracking system (2:45). Female students work to plot and track space missions (2:51). Equipment is seen in use which had been raised on a roof top in Cocoa Beach (3:18). The students are then seen listening to the launching from 14 miles away with their own equipment (3:22). A close up shot shows one of the stations to be labeled as ‘Test Director’ (3:36) as another student hits the lift off switch (4:08). Astronaut John Glenn is seen on his first flight into space aboard the Mercury-Atlas in 1962 (4:16). He is then heard saying ‘what a beautiful view’ as he looks down upon the Earth (4:48). The second segment of the film begins with shots of men in the buried base known as Camp Century in Greenland (6:41). Cargo transports move supplies across the snow to construct the base located 800 miles from the North Pole (7:07). These supplies had to be moved 150 miles inland from a supply depot on Greenland’s coast (7:24). A massive snow plow is seen in use as it digs the trenches for the facilities (7:59). A shot follows of the snow plow within the deep trench shooting snow up and over the side (8:06). Overlapping steel arches are laid over the trench (8:20) and snow is laid over top of these in order to seal the roof (8:31). Workmen are seen working on the foundation for the prefabricated buildings (8:39). Bricks of snow are used to block up the entry ways of the tunnel (9:26). The bulldozer pushes snow into the doorway of the tunnel to complete the seal (9:51). Men are seen entering the front hole of one of the 23 tunnels (10:09) as well as utilizing the escape hatch (10:24). The largest trench is seen under construction which was to house the atomic reactor for the camp’s power source (10:36). This trench’s roof is installed (10:45). The frame for the reactor building is composed of steel beams (10:56). Heavily insulated pipes are installed (11:09). Electrical work is conducted to provide the camp’s main source of heat (11:31). The giant nuclear power plant built by Alco Products Inc. for the US Army Corp of Engineers is seen (11:40). It is moved into place (12:12) and it's four basic elements are pointed to (12:45). Bars of atomic fuel containing about a pound of uranium 235 are pulled from their shipping containers (13:05). The crewmen are seen in protective gear as they lower the bars into the storage tank (13:30). After about nine hours, the reactor is powered up and Camp Century is delivered power (14:36). Workers are seen moving through the now lit tunnels (14:44). The medical facilities within the camp are pointed to as medical personnel go over an X-ray (15:28). The cold climate provided a natural freezer for the base (15:39). The camp’s kitchen facilities follow with cooks preparing meals (15:47). The mess hall (16:09) and the GI’s quarters are shown (16:22). The film begins to wrap up with aerial shots of the arctic tundra (16:54).
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com