Sputnik 1
Published on Jul 9, 2007 at 4:32 pm.
5 Comments.
Filed under space exploration, wonders.
October 4, 1957, a giant R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile lifted off from its launch pad deep in the heart of the Soviet Union. Instead of carrying a nuclear warhead, as the missile had been designed to do, this R-7 was being used as a booster to place a 58.5 centimeter diameter sphere of mass 86.3 kilograms (184 pounds) into orbit around the Earth. It was called Sputnik. The small sphere was polished aluminum and reflected sunlight strongly enough to be seen from the ground if you knew where to look. But, the satellite was quite small, and was right at the threshold of visibility. 
The booster rocket, itself, though, was far brighter, and it too was in orbit. Many people going out to look for Sputnik saw the booster and mistook it for the satellite. Sputnik had four long whip antennae projecting to one side that it used to send a simple short wave radio transmission. The radio was battery powered, and it beeped until the battery was low, and then began to send out a continuous whine until the battery died. While beeping, the duration and frequency of the beeps gave information about temperature and spacecraft condition.
Sputnik was not the first man-made object in space. During World War II, German V2 rockets made it to the edge of space before falling back to Earth. Sputnik 1, though, was the first man-made object to be placed into orbit around Earth. For that reason, it makes my list of Seven Wonders of Space Exploration.
The idea for an Earth-orbiting satellite had been kicked around for a long time before Sputnik. But, technology had not caught up with the dream of putting an artificial satellite around Earth until the mid to late 1950s. In the United States, Wernher von Braun had advanced his V2 rocket ideas to the Jupiter missile, which he was convinced could put a small satellite into orbit. In the Soviet Union, Sergei Korolev had designed the R-7 missile. The R-7 was a massive rocket, with a central core as powerful as anything the Americans had, and side rocket pods strapped on around it. All of the rockets fired to lift off, and the side rockets fell away when they were expended. The R-7 is technically a two stage rocket, but the second stage is the central core that burns all the way from liftoff until burnout. The Soviet rocket had to be big. Soviet rockets were not as precise as American rockets, and their nuclear weapons were much heavier. But, all of the extra thrust used to lift a heavier payload could also power a smaller payload into orbit. This was the argument that Sergei Korolev had made to his superiors a number of years earlier.
What really got Sputnik going, though, was an American announcement of the goal to put an artificial satellite in orbit around the Earth during the International Geophysical Year (IGY). The IGY was actually 18 months long, lasting from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958. The IGY was an international effort to study the Earth. Shortly after the American announcement, Korolev was given the go-ahead to launch his satellite. He at once started work on a massive object weighing over one metric ton filled with scientific instrumentation. But, as work progressed on this satellite, Korolev was persuaded to start with a much easier and smaller satellite. Sputnik 1 was fabricated in a very short period of time. Korolev’s original idea eventually became Sputnik 3, which was launched May 15, 1958.
So, Sputnik 1 seems a fitting start to my list of space exploration wonders. If you’d like to read more about Sputnik, Paul Dickson has a very nice book about the Sputnik program, and James Harford has an excellent book about Sergei Korolev. Both are excellent books for anyone interested in the history of space.
-Astroprof
Images courtesy of Wikimedia
Astroprof’s Page » Seven Wonders? on July 19, 2007 at 4:39 pm: 1
[…] « Corona BorealisSputnik 1 » […]
Astroprof’s Page » The International Lunar Decade on September 15, 2007 at 4:57 pm: 2
[…] The ILD was scheduled to begin 2007, near the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik. However, this also coincides with the approximate launch of Japan’s Kaguya (formally called SELENE) probe and China’s Chang’e 1 spacecraft. So, the launch of any of these would effectively mark the beginning of the ILD. Well, Kaguya just launched toward the Moon, kicking off the International Lunar Decade. At present, ILD is still a proposal, having been endorsed by several major scientific organizations, but (to my knowledge) not signed off on by the governments or space agencies of the nations sending missions to the Moon. Even so, it should carry enough weight, having the support of key scientists and science organizations, to promote and encourage lunar exploration. I sure hope so! But, a decade is a long time. I am not sure that this will generate as much public attention as an International Lunar Year would have done. But, the reality is that there is simply too much to do for lunar exploration to fit it into a year, even a “year” lasting for 18 or more months, so an International Lunar Decade makes more sense. […]
Astroprof’s Page » 50 Years Ago on October 3, 2007 at 7:03 pm: 3
[…] Sputnik-1 was not Korolev’s original choice for the first man-made object to be put into Earth orbit. He, like Wernher von Braun, had long dreamed of extending the capabilities of his rockets to launch a payload into space. As early as May 26, 1954, Korolev had made a proposal to his superiors that an R-7 missile be modified to launch a payload into orbit around Earth. The proposal languished in the Soviet bureaucracy, though, until US President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced on July 29, 1955, that the United States of America intended to launch an artificial Earth orbiting satellite sometime during the International Geophysical Year that ran from July 1, 1957, through December 31, 1958. Within about a week, Korolev’s proposal was approved. Korolev’s original plan was to construct a massive heavily instrumented craft of mass in excess of one metric ton. However, the United States was making progress with its Vanguard program, so Korolev agreed to hurriedly build a much smaller satellite as an initial test of the R-7 missile as an orbital launch vehicle. This simpler vehicle became Sputnik-1, and it was launched not much more than a month after conception. A much larger payload was launched only a month later, on November 3, 1957, as Sputnik-2, with the dog Laika aboard. Both Sputnik-1 and Sputnik-2 were primarily missions designed to show the prowess of the Soviet Union’s launch technology rather than as science missions like Korolev’s originally proposed satellite. Korolev’s original plan for an Earth-orbiting satellite finally saw form on May 15, 1958, with the launch of Sputnik-3. […]
PghPa on October 4, 2007 at 1:38 am: 4
Thanks for the timely history lesson!
It has been interesting living in the
space age for nearly 50 years.
Ashby on October 5, 2007 at 10:05 pm: 5
Its too bad Sputnik fell back to Earth. Imagine if it stayed in orbit and someone could retrieve it and bring it back for the ultimate historic relic. Too bad for history. A good way the Russians or the U.S. could have celebrate the 50th Anniversity of Sputnik would to rebuild the original version of it and place it in a higher orbit during the next shuttle mission. We could relived the 1957 experience by listening for it on shortwave when it passes overhead.