In 1958, Arizona State College became Arizona State University. In an effort to bolster the research program of the new university, which had yet to confer its first Ph.D., the Coordinator of Research of the University, George A. Boyd, sought promising research avenues. The convergence of two events helped lead ASU down the path of meteorite research. First, Sputnik launched in October 1957, and put space and anything related to it at the forefront of the American conscience. Second, Harvey H. Nininger, the famous meteorite hunter and self-taught meteoriticist, sold a portion of his collection to the British Natural History Museum in 1958. The sale marked a loss for the state of Arizona, as the museum housing Nininger's extensive collection was originally located near Barringer Meteor Crater in northern Arizona (Figure 1) and then, later, in Sedona, Arizona.