Chet Bart has been interested in the solar system and space exploration since grade school, when he watched the news reports of Sputnik and our Explorer satellites making history and has continued that pursuit ever since. Through high school Chet constructed his own telescopes, and during college he worked in a laboratory designing and building hardware for lunar missions.|In parallel with his subsequent professional career in guided missile development, Chet maintained a keen interest in the accomplishments and results from the space programs over the years. Space and astronomical events were on his family calendar right along with birthdays and holidays. Chet's wife and three children also enjoy space and astronomy -- whether watching meteors sweep across the sky, observing at the eyepiece of a telescope, or witnessing the accomplishments of the Mars rovers on television, the excitement is always there.