Geoffrey E. PerryMBE (4 August 1927,Braintree, Essex – 18 January 2000,Bude) was aphysics teacher atKettering Grammar School,Northamptonshire, England who, together with his colleague Derek Slater, and students, deduced the existence of the previously-secretPlesetsk Cosmodrome in 1966 by analyzing the orbit of theKosmos 112 satellite. TheNew York Times published his discovery shortly beforeChristmas in 1966.[1]
Perry and his students (who formed the Kettering Group along with some other volunteers worldwide) continued theirsatellite tracking work for a number of years, using only inexpensiveshortwave radio equipment and painstakingly using theDoppler effect to deduce the satellites' orbits. They were often able to deduce what various Soviet satellites were being used for, based on theirtelemetry. This information was likely already known by Western intelligence agencies, although it was classified, meaning that the Kettering Group played an important role in making information about the Soviet space programme publicly available.
Perry received anMBE in 1973, in the New Year Honours List. In 1974, he received theJackson-Gwilt Medal of theRoyal Astronomical Society.[2] After retiring from teaching in 1984 he worked as a space analyst for theITN television network. He was married to Jean, and had a daughter, Isabel.
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