Episode 77: Satellite tracking – the early days

Sven Grahn has been working in the space field in one way or
another for over fifty years. Officially retired, he continues to
work as a project leader of a student satellite at the Royal
Institute of Technology in Stockholm. He is perhaps best known for
his work in tracking satellites launched by the secretive Soviet
Union during the 1960s and 1970s.In those pre-internet days, his
work along with others helped to identify individual mission
characteristics such as mission types, members of the crew, take
off and landing times. He recorded over 1000 conversations from
orbiting spacecraft as they flew over Sweden. In this interview, he
speaks about The impact of the space race on his choice of
career His work on sounding rockets and meteorology in Sweden and
beyond Satellite tracking. What he tracked, heard and recorded
using radio and tape recorders. How he came to research and write
about the  satellite tracking conducted at Jodrell  Bank
radio telescope in England As an 11-year-old, Sven had seen Sputnik
in the sky over Sweden with his own eyes. I started by asking him
how the onset of the space race had impacted his choice of career?