What Was That

The fastest man made object was launched into space On August 27 in 1957 from a nuclear explosion without a spacecraft’s grace When an American Robert Brownlee an astrophysicist left over A 485 foot hole a half ton metal cover Earlier on 26 July 1957 they did the same thing Launching the manhole cover into space with an explosive ring So they decided to film it this time round To calculate how fast and how far it flew to find it on the ground So they exploded the bomb in quite a show Creating the world’s greatest Roman candle all a glow So the end of the countdown came And the bomb exploded with flame And the camera filmed the launch of the manhole cover Travelling at 125,000 mph over Being 4 times the speed needed to leave the earth So it travelled out into space Amazing the scientists in that place So they calculated that it left the solar system in the 1961 year Provided it passed the planets clear But I like to think that it’s in an alien museum display With them pondering Made in the USA. © Paul Warren Poetry