Hidden along an overgrown dirt road amid an isolated
patch of farmland, the rusted aluminium shed
does anything but exude a vibe of scientific triumph.
Crumbling, riddled with graffiti, and long-ago gutted
of wires and other valuables, it could barely sell
for scrap at a small-town junk yard. Go figure, then,
that it once helped launch man to the cosmos.
Though the era now seems worlds away in a
Zanzibar that was soon to be transformed by revolution,
for four years in the early 1960s this was one
of sixteen global sites used by the United States to
track its first manned space flights, part of an operation
known as Project Mercury. Established in
1959 by the newly-created National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA), Mercury sought
to “investigate man’s capabilities in space,” in an era
dominated by a race for technological superiority
between cold war rivals the United States and the
Soviet Union. Beginning with unmanned launches,
the project produced the celebrated “Mercury
Seven” – the first batch of U.S. astronauts. These
included Alan Shepard, who on May 5, 1961 became
the first American in space, and John Glenn, the first
American to orbit the earth, on February 20, 1962
(The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had already
accomplished both with his Vostok1 Flight on April
12, 1961).
Long before any of these feats, however, NASA
had realized that the dawn of the space age required
not only the finest in state-of-the-art rocketry, nor a
group of young pilots with the Right Stuff (to quote
the title of the Tom Wolfe book and subsequent
Hidden along an overgrown dirt road amid an isolatedpatch of farmland, the rusted aluminium sheddoes anything but exude a vibe of scientific triumph.Crumbling, riddled with graffiti, and long-ago guttedof wires and other valuables, it could barely sellfor scrap at a small-town junk yard. Go figure, then,that it once helped launch man to the cosmos.
Though the erea now seems worlds away in aZanzibar that was soon to be transformed by revolution,for four years in the early 1960s this was oneof sixteen global sites used by the United States totrack its first manned space flights, part of an operationknown as Project Mercury.
Established in1959 by the newly-created National Aeronauticsand Space Administration (NASA), Mercury soughtto “investigate man’s capabilities in space,” in an eradominated by a race for technological superioritybetween cold war rivals the United States and theSoviet Union. Beginning with unmanned launches,the project produced the celebrated “MercurySeven” – the first batch of U.S. astronauts.
Theseincluded Alan Shepard, who on May 5, 1961 becamethe first American in space, and John Glenn, the firstAmerican to orbit the earth, on February 20, 1962(The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had alreadyaccomplished both with his Vostok1 Flight on April12, 1961).Long before any of these feats, however, NASAhad realized that the dawn of the space age requirednot only the finest in state-of-the-art rocketry, nor agroup of young pilots with the Right Stuff (to quotethe title of the Tom Wolfe book and subsequent
academy-award winning film about the Mercuryastronauts) for space travel. In order to communicatefrom Earth with this first crop of American star voyagers– even control the spacecraft from the ground if the astronaut became incapacitated – it was also necessary to establish a network of global tracking stations. To ensure a maximum of ten minutes orbittime between contact with one ground station and the next, sixteen facilities were needed: two on ships at sea and the rest on land – including the site on Zanzibar.
In June 1960, with the support of Sultan Khalifa ibn Kharub, the United States purchased a tract of farmland near the village of Tunguu, 15km east of Stone Town. Within nine months, the station was up and running, staffed by technicians from the Bendix Radio Corporation, a U.S. government contractor.“For the American technicians, Zanzibar was a favoured assignment,” says Torrence Royer, whospent two years on the island as a child while his stepfather worked at the station. “Zanzibar was one of the few sites around the world where families wereallowed to come along. I remember snorkelling on the weekends and staying up at night to watch for Russian and American satellites. It was a great place to be a kid.”
According to Royer, one highlight of Zanzibar’s short-lived space age was the triumph of Glenn, who circled the Earth three times before splashing in theAtlantic aboard his spacecraft, Friendship 7. Shortly after, Glenn and his wife paid a visit to Zanzibar. “That was quite an achievement,” says Royer. “If they couldn’t orbit the earth, they couldn’t take any of the next steps in space exploration. Afterwards, we had quite a party.
” A triumph for the astronaut and his on-ground staff alike, Glenn’s orbit, along with three remaining Mercury missions, would help pave the way for the space age’s future – including, just seven years later, man’s footsteps on the moon. This future, however, would not be tracked from Zanzibar.
Though the station continued to operate after the end of the Mercury program, most of its employees were swiftly evacuated when violent revolution struck the islands in January 1964. Three months later, President Abeid Amani Karume of the revolutionary government – already swinging toward the influence of the Soviet Union – announced that the station would be removed by the end of April, claiming it “endangers our island, our relations with neighbours, and the whole of Africa.” The Zanzibar Mercury site was soon left to crumble, forgotten by most islanders, with the possible exception of then 18-year-old Stone Town resident Farrokh Bulsara.
By the time he reached fame as the lead singer of the rock band Queen, he was known by a most suspicious pseudonym: Freddie Mercury. 44 years after its closure, walking through the blighted shed, one can still imagine the tracking station humming with life: plaid-shirted engineers in 1960s crew cuts manning oversized computers flanked with rows of tubes and strange mechanical objects; fighting through the static as a small, manned, bell-shaped capsule circled the Earth just beyond the edge of the atmosphere.
