On October 4th 1957, the Soviets scored a crushing blow in the Cold War and opened up the space race. Not the complete and total victorious first step that the Communists touted it as, Sputnik was more luck than revolutionary engineering.
Sputnik (Спутник) means ‘fellow traveller’ or ’satellite’ in Russian (officially Простейший Спутник-1 or Elementary Satellite-1), and was how many future Russian satellites were named in the US. The first Sputnik weighed only 184 pounds and was a sphere with 3 arms extending backwards. It was launched on what might have been the most powerful rocket at the time, the R-7 rocket. The R-7 was actually an ICBM for an intended nuclear payload. With only the tiny Sputnik on board, the rocket had more than enough power to get into orbit.
Sputnik launched on Oct. 4th, scrubbing a launch on the 6th because of rumors that the US might send something up one day earlier on the 5th. If there had been more time, Sputnik might have been loaded with scientific instruments, but every new feature could have been one more chance at total failure.
There was no US launch on the 5th of October. In reality, the US didn’t get a satellite into orbit until the last day of January the next year (1958) called Explorer I. Explorer I, laden with instruments discovered the Van Allen radiation belts. Prior to Sputnik, the US program “Vanguard” had 2 failed attempts, but was very successful at scaring the Russians into working faster.
Sputnik was in orbit for about 2 weeks, sending out a beep that was monitored by amateur radio operators throughout the world. Anyone alive at the time probably remembers hearing the beeps being rebroadcast over the radio. Many people may claim to have seen the satellite in orbit, but recently it has been revealed that it was part of the booster rocket and not Sputnik itself.
Sputnik was only 50 years ago, and now we have the beginnings of private space flight and space recreation. Not to shabby for taking to the skies for the first time about 100 years ago.
Sputnik and everything else the Soviets did was a pure luck, but everything the Americans did was a brilliant engineering. Now that’s really objective and balanced!