While headlines glamorize the U.S.
Russian race to the moon, man's most useful achievements in space have come as the result of an unsung project started in 1964: the U.S. Orbiting Geophysical Observatory series. Last week the fourth OGO satellite, launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base on July 28, was buzzing along in polar orbit without a hitch.
Resembling giant stub-winged dragonflies, OGOs circle in polar and equatorial orbits at altitudes of 170 to 90,000 miles. So far, they have logged 500,000 hours studying near-earth environment and the sun's effects on it. OGOs...
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