I was in my freshman year in high school and remember the elation I felt after months of failed Project Vanguard flights in the wake of the Russian Sputnik launches.
Image credit NASA
Through the combined efforts of JPL and the Army Ballistic Missile Ballistic Agency, Explorer 1 launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Jan. 31, 1958. There was a nail-biting wait before tracking stations confirmed that Explorer 1 had gone successfully into orbit around Earth. With the launch of Explorer 1, the United States officially entered the space age.
Space science has been a passion of mine ever since the Apollo missions and the eventual first walk on the moon. Star Trek helped define my career path into high-tech electronics! Yup, I’m a Trekkie and proud of it. I can remember in school the career counselors saying “Don’t be a Trekkie, employers don’t want Trekkie’s”. They could not have been more wrong. Look at all the innovations that came from the space industries! I can trace the Star Trek communicator to todays flip phone. The imagination has no bounds!
I’ve loved science and electronics since I was a kid. I built my first “Knight Kit” shortwave receiver in 1958 – it had, of all things, five vacuum tubes in the receiver and a selenium rectifier in the power supply.
I’m sure that I’ve seen every episode of the original Star Trek TV series. I read Heinlein’s “Red Planet” in the fifth grade – and many since then.
I have also had a remarkable career in electronics, computers and aerospace technology. Having an imagination is a benefit, not a liability as you point out.