Space Race-era poster compiled by Norman J. Oliver and Anne L. Carrigan, physicists of the Space Physics Laboratory at the Boston-area Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories (AFCRL), and editors of the program's Geophysics and Space Data Bulletin. The Space Physics Laboratory intended to, "develop techniques for predicting changes in the near space environment," and in 1964 established the Space Forecasting Branch. This chart elucidates various aspects of both near and outer space in data, parameters, models, and diagrams.
The AFRCL did extensive research in environmental sciences and electronics. From 1965 to 1967, the AFRCL launched 104 rockets, 66 of which were by the Upper Atmosphere Physics Laboratory, examining nearly every aspect of the earth's upper atmosphere and near-space environment. In 1966, the AFRCL's Sagamore Hill Radio Observatory started to operate solar patrols.