Nigeria, technicians at NASA Project Mercury tracking station in Kano.
Worldwide Tracking Network
The Kano Station gave acquisition aid, telemetry record, spacecraft communication (air to ground) and more.
Credit: history.nasa.gov
According to “Read You Loud and Clear” by Sunny Tsiao on NASA’s Spaceflight Tracking and Date Network…
– The Kano tracking Station was completed in 1961
– On 19 October 1960, an agreement was reached in the capital city of Lagos, allowing the United States to construct “NASA Tracking Station 5” in the Federation of Nigeria. This news was announced with great fanfare to the Nigerians. The local Hausa villagers living around Kano described the site as “the place the Sardauna built to get the message from the stars.
– A rumor was circulated in Kano at the time of the site team’s visit there to the effect that the team was tied in with the French atomic bomb experiment in some manner. Such gross misconceptions on the part of the local government had to be resolved diplomatically. In the Nigerian situation, personal assurance to the Emir of Kano…
– In 1965 Kano provided another temporary site for Satellite Tracking And Data Acquisition Network (STADAN), briefly housing equipment supporting the International Satellite for Ionospheric Studies.”
Source: Read You Loud and Clear” by Sunny Tsiao
