Why did I write this book?

I have kept rather meticulous logs and preserved two “shelf-meters” of letters about my private satellite tracking activities since 1966. Recordings of signals are carefully digitized and preserved. I have published many accounts of my satellite tracking at my web site. But – my records may be hard to safeguard into the far future and web sites disappear, and with them all their sometimes irreplaceable information. However, a book, with a proper ISBN number may get preserved by professional libraries. Such a book also ends up with private individuals that take an interest in this field. In this way there is a certain non-negligible chance that my satellite tracking exploits get preserved for some time. The reason I want that to happen is of course that I do not want all this effort to have been for naught. But also that my narrative may give future readers a taste of what it was like in the early space age, the drama, the technology and the seemingly primitive technical means at the disposal of the space enthusiast that wanted to keep a close ear on space events. I hope both modern and future readers will enjoy these glimpses from the past. Those persons that I owe gratitude to are certainly mentioned extensively in the text – except one: my late wife Inger Albrecktsson (1947-2012) who had to live with my quirky hobby but who also sometimes helped me track satellites, especially those with cosmonauts on-board. I am so glad that she understood that living with me for 41 years came with an extra “package” – humming radios, static and strange bleeps from loudspeakers, me getting up in the middle of the night to twiddle the controls of my radios, phone calls from other space trackers rattling off strings of numbers for her to write down, and other oddities. I just wish I had thanked her more while she was still among us. This paragraph is an insufficient substitute for the gratitude I owe my life’s companion. Happy reading! Sven Grahn