Sputnik

The launching of Sputnik inaugurated the Space Age. It proved to the world that
Russia was indeed not lagging behind the West in science and technology. Its launch
shocked the world. No one would expect, in the midst of the International
Geographical Year, that mankind would take a giant leap into space exploration. After
years of theorizing about space, the first man-made satellite had been successfully
launched into orbit.

The successful launching of Sputnik was guided by the theories of many scientists.
Such men included Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), Johannes Kepler (1571-1630),
Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1747), Konstantain Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), and Friedrich
Tsander. Copernicus' theory was that the planets revolve around the sun, not the
earth as people once thought. This led to Kepler's three theories: planets follow an
elliptical orbit, a planet travels faster closer to the sun, and the harmonic law. This
stated that the time required for a revolution depends on the height of a planet's orbital
path. These theories helped Sputnik's scientists with the predictions on Sputnik's path
and its speed of travel. Newton's laws went into effect also. His first, universal
gravitation, stated why planets don't fly off into space. Newton's laws of motion were
also used: inertia (an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by
another force, an object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by another
force), acceleration (acceleration is directly proportional to the mass of the body being
moved), and his last law states that to every action, there is an equal and opposite
reaction. These laws helped with the designing and launching of the rocket that carried
Sputnik I into space. Tsiolkovsky proposed using a liquid propellant for launching. He
experimented with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, alcohol and liquid oxygen and
found that those were good mixtures. He also designed his rockets to be multi-staged;
to this day, we still use that idea in our rockets. Tsander followed in his steps and
created the OR-2 rocket, which produced 110 pounds of thrust. These tests led the
way for the rocket that was to take Sputnik up to orbit 

Sputnik I launch was a great astonishment to the world. It was launched from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome, and the date was October 4, 1957. It's chief designer was
Sergei Korolev. Sputnik I, by itself weighed around 84 kilograms; with the rocket that
sent it into orbit, weighed about 4 tons. By doing some calculation, it was thought that
it took 1,124,000 pounds of thrust to send Sputnik into space. Sputnik was 58
centimeters in diameter and carried only a radio beacon and thermometer. This was
an unmanned flight. The name sputnik, means "fellow traveler," a name first used by
Tsiolkovsky. The Russians predicted that Sputnik would make a full revolution
around the earth in 95 minutes (1hr, 35min). The two, battery powered radios
transmitted a regular signal. This was coded so that non-Russian scientists would have
a hard time knowing what was happening. The signals were sent at a frequency of
20.005 and 40.002 megacycles. It sent information on temperature and pressure.
Much was learned about the earth's atmosphere. Even at an altitude of 240 km,
resistance was appreciable. The shape of the earth's gravity field had to be
recalculated. This was concluded because Sputnik didn't drift westward as rapidly as
predicted from earth-based calculations. It took Sputnik an actual of 96 minutes (1hr,
36min) to make the revolution, it was only a minute more than the Russians had
predicted. At times, its elliptical orbit ranged from 230-950km above the earth's
surface. It crossed the equator at a 65 degree angle; its northernmost point was 65
degrees latitude and southernmost point was 65 degrees latitude. Soon, on October 6,
the scientists determined the path of Sputnik. At 9:30 A.M., it would cross Detroit,
Michigan, one minute later, Washington D.C. 11 A.M. it would cross Halifax, Nova
Scotia, and at 5 P.M., Tierra del Fuego, the southern tip of South America. On
November 9, it was observed that Sputnik's maximum altitude decrease from
560m-506m. By December 1, a flaming object was seen over Alaska.

The Russians have set a record being the first to successfully launch an artificial
satellite into space. Still, they strived for more. On November 3, 1957, Sputnik II was
launched. It set yet another world record of being the first to send a living thing into
space. This Sputnik was much heavier than the first, and with a bigger payload. This
time, it carried a live dog, her name was Laika. Sputnik II weighed close to 500kg
(1,100lbs.). This meant that it took about 1,250,000 pounds of thrust to send it up to
space. Instruments were attached to Laika to measure her heart rate, blood pressure,
and breathing. Other instruments measured solar-radiation in the shortwave,
ultra-violet, and X-ray regions of the spectrum. Laika traveled in an airtight container,
supplied with food and water in a form of gelatin. Fresh air was supplied at a
comfortable humidity. It remained in space until April 14, 1958. After the batteries ran
out after 100 hours, Laika was painlessly put to death by a mechanism controlled
from earth. Sputnik III was launched in May 15, 1958. Its job was to measure space
radiation.

During 92 days in space, Sputnik I completed 1,400 revolutions around the earth and
traveled 37 million miles. It passed through two meteor showers and showed that they
might be less of a hazard than expected. It supplied the first reliable data on the
density of the upper atmosphere and the effects of that density on an artificial satellite.
For the Russians, its launch boosted national pride which was reinforced by the praise
that came from other countries. The USSR was long regarded as lagging behind the
West in science and technology; now, they won world recognition for performance in
those fields. America, once considered having the number one educational system in
the world, was shocked when the Soviets put Sputnik into orbit. After that, the
American educators put forth more emphasis on science and mathematics. This led
the U.S. to develop the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1958. It
increased the money budgeted to space exploration. This eventually led to the
Americans on the moon (Apollo 11). We, as a people learned much more about our
earth and the universe around us.

From the time of Copernicus and Newton, the search for the universe had begun. The
scientists of the modern time, used past theories to develop their own. This eventual
build-up of ideas, finally led to the making of an artificial satellite. This satellite was
Sputnik I, it changed the world's outlook on space, forever. A barrier had been
broken. With the first successful orbit of an artificial satellite, Russia strived for more.
Months later, Sputnik II was launched. This satellite carried a living animal. With this
orbit, Russia had broken a second barrier. It proved to the world that space travel was
indeed safe and possible.