To think it all started with a query letter shotgunned to a list of big universities. The message was, basically, “Hey, you should come check out our mountain. We think it would be great for a telescope.”

The island of Hawaii was struggling after the 1960 tsunami. Business and political leaders were looking for ways to rebuild and broaden the island’s economic base and were spitballing ideas, including wild suggestions like selling lava.

The suggestion of attracting astronomy to Mauna Kea was part of the mix. It wasn’t a new idea. A mountain that big and skies that clear make most people look up in wonder. But this time, it took on a different sheen.

This was during the frenzy of America’s Space Race with the Soviet Union. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space in 1961. Alan Shepard became the first American in space soon after. In September of ’62, President John F. Kennedy made his “We choose to go to the moon” speech and those letters from Hilo went out in June 1963.

The manager of the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce took on the assignment of sending the letters to astronomy departments at Harvard, MIT, the University of Tokyo and other universities with astronomy research programs.

There was only one reply, and that was from Dr. Gerard Kuiper, who headed the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona. Kuiper is regarded as the father of modern planetary science, according to NASA. In fact, a region of space known as the Kuiper Belt is named after him.

He was also a big name in the moon race. He helped identify possible landing sites on the moon for the Apollo program. Kuiper accepted the invitation to fly to Hawaii and see Mauna Kea.

While America was competing with the Russians, there also was a bit of competition between Hawaiian islands. Maui’s Haleakala won the first telescope in Hawaii in 1958 for the simple reason there was a paved road to the Haleakala summit before there was a road to the top of Mauna Kea. After Kuiper’s initial visit, the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce convinced Gov. John Burns to have the state build a road up Mauna Kea.

Kuiper oversaw the building of the first telescope on Mauna Kea, which measured only 12-1/2 inches and was housed in a 12-1/2 foot dome. It was dedicated in July 1964.

Kuiper was the connection to NASA and made his case for the agency’s investment on the mountain. His plan was to build a larger telescope, not on the peak of the mountain, but on a puu at a lower elevation. However, the University of Hawaii got in the game, played hard and submitted the winning bid for NASA funding of an 88-inch telescope, and by 1967, Kuiper was out.

News stories said Kuiper was angry that UH had taken over “his” mountain. He died in 1973 in Mexico City while working on a telescope project there.

It’s interesting to trace back how this all started. In the beginning, before a small city of telescopes and a long lease, before idle promises and terrible mismanagement (which everyone, including the mismanagers, now acknowledges) and before telescope developers started arguing about their rights — in the beginning, there was an invitation.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.