of a battery, a radio transmitter and a fanlike cooling device orbiting the earth elliptically every 90 minutes. all the u.s. government could do was ask the 70,000 members of the american radio relay league, a society of ham radio operators or buffs, to help them track the soviet beeps. and as we know, a decade later in the summer of '69, the u.s. beat the russians to the moon, accomplishing the president's goal. on july 20th, lunar mneil armst became the first person to walk on the moon. buzz aldrin soon followed him out the door. michael collins was circling above in their ride home the command module. we're glad to be joined by doug brinkl