The Mercury from Pottstown, Pennsylvania • Page 42

Michael S. Spacek, R.D. 3, is a modern day star gazer who has turned a hobby into a productive telescopes for an eager audience of other star gazers and optical instruments for space scientists. Using one of his own creations, he focuses on the Planet Jupiter with its 12 mysterious moons. And he asks himself: "Beyond the planets, then what?" Yesterday's science fiction is today's reality.

Yesterday, Man looked toward the sky; today he walks in space; tomorrow he will land upon the moon. After that, he will seek the planets. And the stars will be out there, beckoning. TOMORROW EXCITING is the word for tomorrow. Looking into tomorrow we see the realization of yesterday dreams.

By Larry Davis From the very beginning of his existence on earth, Man has turned his curious eyes to the night iky. He has looked with fascination to the moon, the planets and the stars and has responded to their infinite presence with a broad range of emotions, among them love, fear, inspiration and awe. These far-distant, heavenly bodies, at mileposts in his development, have been the fountainhead of religion, the source of his literature, the veiled explanation for the natural wonders, and the positive pilots for his determined exploration of the globe. But at no other time than now has Man looked to the heavens in such great numbers with a new and profound dimension of purpose; a direct challenge. Thus he peers outward today from the orderly arrangement of his technological environment to the equally orderly arrangement of the universe and vigorously questions the glittering presence of all therein: are you? Where are you? Whence do you go? What is your true What secrets do you hold from It is in part to seek answers to these enigmas that a Pottstown resident has created an industry that even now is providing the means to seek replies to an ever-increasing audience, both amateur and highly professional, which probes beyond the horizon to the defiant mysteries of outer space.

The man who is giving space-oriented enthusiasts a glimpse of is Michael S. Spacek, a 52 year-old amateur astronomer who lives on Sanatoga Hill. There, in a workshop jammed with production equipment and machinery, he has turned an interesting hobby into a profitable business that is adding immeasurably to the educational growth of an untold number of young people. It is contributing, too, to the rapidly expanding technology of the established space scientists. Michael Spacek manufactures telescopes, optics and optical instruments.

Not only does he mass-produce the magic aluminum tubes and glass prisms that sweep aside the endless miles of space, but also he designs and constructs complete observatories for the convenience of those who have the finances and the inclination to get even nearer to the stars. And as government and private industry delve deeper into their probings of the firmament, he has become a sub-contractor for General Electric, the Goddard Space light Center, the U.S. Bureau of Standards and the Department of Frankford Arsenal. In addition, he manufactures optics for computers built by Univac Corporation. guess he says with obvious satisfaction, has turned a hobby into a business but who regards the business with the same fascination I regard the The business of building telescopes has been his time occupation for the past eight years.

Only more recently has he become a component part in the space program. It all began 34 years ago when he was 18. As a youth, he suddenly found himself interested, as many young people do, in astronomy. He studied all he could about the movements of the moon and the planets, and about the stars blinking endlessly many light years away. But Spacek did more than read.

At the age of 21, he built his first telescope and promptly sold it. He built a second, and this, too found a buyer. He has been constructing them ever since. Today, he is incorporated as the Spacek Instrument company, building his first love, telescopes, and the more sophisticated equipment demanded by space scientists. of the work done by the government in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo Spacek explains, more young people than ever before have become interested in the moon, the planets, and the stars.

This is particularly true in high schools and colleges where the study of astronomy is taking on greater PAGE TWENTY-FOUR POTTSTOWN ON PARADE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1967.