Uhuru Satellite

In the early 1970s, it was difficult for a woman to head an all-male team working on a satellite launch project. Mrs. Marjorie Townsend was a top engineer at America’s Goddard Space Centre and NASA’s first woman Project Manager. An Italian technician, who had the opportunity to work with her, had this to say: “I don't believe it. I just don't believe it. She looks like a woman – but she talks like a man! I’d better watch my step!” Most notably, she oversaw the development and launch of “Uhuru”, the world’s first X-ray astronomy satellite. The space instrument was launched in 1970 by the Italians near Mombasa and was used to detect, survey and map celestial X-ray sources and gamma-ray emissions. It was the first U.S. spacecraft to be launched by another country in a foreign location. Kenya's renowned photojournalist Mohamed Amin, also known as 'Six Camera Mo' was best known as a great frontline photojournalist, but he spent more time documenting his country’s beauty, wildlife, culture, people and leaders than anything else. Mo managed to use his cameras for more than a generation to bring East Africa’s most powerful stories into world view.