Sputnik 3
Published on May 15, 2006 at 3:52 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under space exploration.
It was May 15, 1958. At the Baikonur launch facility deep in the heart of the Soviet Union, a massive R-7 rocket roared to life at 07:12 UT. The R-7, basically a slightly modified SS-6 ICBM, and its derivatives have been the main launch vehicle for the Soviet Union and for Russia — a tribute to Sergei Korolev, its designer. On this date, the R-7 carried the third Soviet satellite into orbit, dubbed Sputnik 3.
This third Soviet launch was seen as just another step forward for the Soviet Union by most of the public. However, it shook the US space experts. At a mass of over 1.3 metric tons, Sputnik 3 was bigger than all US spacecraft currently under construction put together. Sputnik 3 was, in fact, bigger than all spacecraft launched from both the United States and the Soviet Union put together (with one exception being a failed launch of a similar Soviet craft a month earlier). Sputnik 3 was also heavily instrumented. It became apparent to US space experts that the Soviet Union had a booster capable of launching a manned spacecraft. The United States had nothing of the sort operational at the time. Also, the heavy instrumentation of Sputnik 3, though mostly geophysical in nature, could have included surveilance equipment. In fact, Korolov was looking to launching later Sputniks as the first spy satellites.
Fortunately for the US, a tape recorder aboard Sputnik 3 malfunctioned, giving US scientists a chance to complete analysis of data from the two working Explorer spacecraft (Explorers 1 and 3, since Explorer 2 failed to reach orbit). This allowed James van Allen to announce the discovery of belts of radiation surrounding Earth. Explorer 1 had been launched January 31, 1958, and Explorer 3 launched March 26, 1958, and both spacecraft carried geiger counters onboard, which made the discovery.
The Soviets almost beat us to the discovery, though. Korolev had really wanted to launch the heavy and highly instrumented Sputnik first. However, he was convinced to start cautiously with smaller satellites. So, Sputnik 1, launched October 4, 1957, was a small craft carrying only a radio transmitter. Even small as it was, it was roughly about the mass of the first three Explorer spacecraft combined. Sputnik 2, several times more massive, but still just a bit over 1/3 the mass of Sputnik 3, carried the dog Laika into orbit. Sputnik 1 was a major public relations coop for the Soviet Union, as the first satellite put into orbit. Sputnik 2, the second manmade satellite, was also a major news story, as it carried the first living being into orbit: a dog. Eventually, the United States put animals into space, but we waited until we could bring them back again. Laika was on a one way trip. She was supposed to live for about a week, but actually baked to death within a couple hours due to loss of insulation from her capsule during launch. There was no provision to bring her back to Earth. I am not sure why there wasn’t a bigger outcry against the Soviets for sending the dog to certain death rather than holding off until a reentry module could be constructed.
At any rate, Sputnik 3 provided useful data on the environment of near Earth space during its year or so of operation. Eventually, Sputnik 3’s orbit decayed and it reentered Earth’s atmosphere April 6, 1960. In typical Soviet fashion, data collected by Sputnik 3 was pretty much kept quiet. Also, in typical Soviet fashion, Sputnik 3 was actually the fourth Sputnik launched. The one a month earlier failed to reach orbit when it booster failed prematurely. The Soviets kept that quiet, and it was many years until the truth was finally known.
So, that is the story of the third Sputnik placed into orbit.
-Astroprof
Astroprof’s Page » Sputnik 1 on July 9, 2007 at 4:32 pm: 1
[…] 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. […]
Astroprof’s Page » 50 Years Ago on October 3, 2007 at 7:04 pm: 2
[…] 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. […]