Inside the Estes Park Memorial Observatory + Video Interview With Founder
A piece of an asteroid could soon be captured, by a man who was surprised he graduated from Lakewood High School. “I was voted most likely to end up in jail. It was just too much fun to not study,” laughs Mike Connolly. After he slid through high school, Connolly’s father drove him to Fort Collins to apply at Colorado State University. But his GPA wasn’t strong enough for admittance. “They told my Dad ‘Your son might go to college, but it won’t be here,’ ” remembers Connolly. “But I wasn’t discouraged because my Dad looked at me and said ‘Failure is not an option.’”
Packing his bags for Sterling, CO, Connolly took core classes at Northeastern Community College. It was during this time that Connolly faced the first of many unexpected losses, that of his sister to leukemia. Although devastated, Connolly used the experience to fuel him forward, studying harder during this difficult time. “It was a time of stopping, and seeing I could go right or left. I decided to take the right road,” says Connolly.
With a strengthened G.P.A. and renewed determination, Connolly was admitted to CSU and graduated three years later with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Fresh out of college, he took a job at Martin Marietta (Now Lockheed Martin) in the 1960’s, to work on the Titan Missile as a thermal engineer. During his career, Connolly worked on many memorable projects including the famed Apollo Mission and the Magellan, a spacecraft created to take radar images of Venus.
Throughout his career, his engineering projects fed Connolly’s fascination with astronomy, a passion that he passed along to his children. “I remember nights where we would all lay under the sky looking at starts and planets for hours. I love the stars and I loved showing them to my kids,” says Connolly. He never could have imagined that they would not be sharing moments like this forever. In 2005, Connolly suffered yet another devastating loss, that of his son, Thomas, and daughter, Christian, who passed away in a tragic motorcycle accident.
With wife, Carole, and daughter, Michelle, the Connolly family honored their lives through the construction of the Estes Park Memorial Observatory. “I really like this place. Even though you have to compete with XBOX,” Mike says jokingly as he opens the 16-foot dome housing a telescope that can see 400 million miles into space.
Modeled after the Little Thompson Observatory in Berthoud, the dome rotates using a motorcycle chain that is driven by two oversized garage door openers. The telescope, which sat unused for 10 years inside a closet at Estes Park High School, now brings a clear vision of stars, planets and the moon to any level of astronomer.
Now retired, Connolly still works as a contracted Thermal Engineer. Right now, his attention is focused on the Osiris-Rex project. The mission: to capture a piece of an asteroid to help determine its composition. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch in 2016, reach the asteroid in 2018 and come back to earth in 2022. Whether through the observatory, or his work in space exploration, Connolly continues to share his passion for astronomy and bring each of us closer to the skies above.
Possible Sidebar Info: The donation based Estes Park Memorial Observatory is open to individuals as well as school groups. So head on over, Mike Connolly would love you to introduce you to the sky you live under everyday.
Estes Park Memorial Observatory
1600 Manford Avenue
970-586-4045
