JFK+50: Volume 7, No. 2461
SOVIETS LAUNCHED SPUTNIK 60 YEARS AGO
Moscow, USSR (JFK+50) Sixty years ago today, October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched the first man-made satellite to orbit the Earth, Sputnik I.
The satellite traveled at a speed of 18,000 miles per hour with each orbit taking 96.2 minutes to complete. Soviet designers, engineers and technicians waited until 90 minutes after lift-off to inform Premier Nikita Khrushchev because they wanted to be certain of the mission's success.
Soviet news agency TASS reported...
"As a result of great, intense work of scientific institutes and design bureaus, the first artificial satellite has been built."
Sputnik I was 23 inches in diameter and made of polished metal. The satellite had four external radio antennas which sent out pulses until the batteries lost power after 22 days in space.
Sputnik completed 1,440 orbits before its service ended on Jan. 4, 1958.
Seth Shostak reminds us that this satellite, about the size of a fitness ball, absolutely stunned most Americans. "It greatly increased spending on science education," and within a year NASA was established. The space race was on.
SOURCE
"Sputnik Shook the Nation 60 Years Ago. That Could Happen Again", by Seth Shostak, October 4, 2017, MACH, www.nbcnews.com/
Replica of Sputnik I
US National Air & Space Museum
Washington, D.C.
NSSDC, NASA Photo (2004)
Moscow, USSR (JFK+50) Sixty years ago today, October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched the first man-made satellite to orbit the Earth, Sputnik I.
The satellite traveled at a speed of 18,000 miles per hour with each orbit taking 96.2 minutes to complete. Soviet designers, engineers and technicians waited until 90 minutes after lift-off to inform Premier Nikita Khrushchev because they wanted to be certain of the mission's success.
Soviet news agency TASS reported...
"As a result of great, intense work of scientific institutes and design bureaus, the first artificial satellite has been built."
Sputnik I was 23 inches in diameter and made of polished metal. The satellite had four external radio antennas which sent out pulses until the batteries lost power after 22 days in space.
Sputnik completed 1,440 orbits before its service ended on Jan. 4, 1958.
Seth Shostak reminds us that this satellite, about the size of a fitness ball, absolutely stunned most Americans. "It greatly increased spending on science education," and within a year NASA was established. The space race was on.
SOURCE
"Sputnik Shook the Nation 60 Years Ago. That Could Happen Again", by Seth Shostak, October 4, 2017, MACH, www.nbcnews.com/
Replica of Sputnik I
US National Air & Space Museum
Washington, D.C.
NSSDC, NASA Photo (2004)
