Sputnik 1 (Простейший Спутник-1) Declassified - The first artificial Earth satellite

• published: 11 Apr 2015
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This documentary examines the goals of the highly secretive American space program prior to Sputnik. The Eisenhower Administration's covert objectives in space gave the impression that the Soviets had a commanding lead in space technology. The world changed fifty years ago, on October 4, 1957, when the U.S. public heard the shocking news that the Soviet Union had successfully launched the first satellite, Sputnik I. Why didnít the U.S. beat the Soviets in this first crucial round of the space race? This documentary reveals an astonishing behind-the-scenes story of the politics and personalities that collided over the earliest efforts to get America into space, long before the founding of NASA. Anticommunist witch-hunts drove some of the nationís most talented rocketry pioneers out of the country even as we welcomed Wernher von Braun and his former Nazi colleagues. With help from Walt Disney, von Braunís vision of future space travel swiftly captivated watchers. But even as he became the first media star of the Space Age, von Braunís attempts to build space probes were hobbled by inter-service rivalries. In Secrets of the Sputnik Race. This documentary details the previously untold story of the technological and political missteps that made the U.S. lose out to the Soviets bleeping electronic basketball. Sputnik 1 (Простейший Спутник-1) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was a 58 cm (23 in) diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable. The surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. Sputnik itself provided scientists with valuable information. The density of the upper atmosphere could be deduced from its drag on the orbit, and the propagation of its radio signals gave information about the ionosphere. Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No.1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR (now at the Baikonur Cosmodrome). The satellite travelled at about 29,000 kilometres per hour (18,000 mph; 8,100 m/s), taking 96.2 minutes to complete each orbit. It transmitted on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz which were monitored by amateur radio operators throughout the world. The signals continued for 22 days until the transmitter batteries ran out on 26 October 1957. Sputnik 1 burned up on 4 January 1958, as it fell from orbit upon reentering Earth's atmosphere, after travelling about 70 million km (43.5 million miles) and spending 3 months in orbit. The history of the Sputnik 1 project dates back to 17 December 1954, when Sergei Korolev addressed Dimitri Ustinov, the Minister of Defence Industries, proposing the development of an artificial satellite, forwarding a report by Mikhail Tikhonravov with an overview of similar projects abroad.[9] Tikhonravov emphasized that the launch of an orbital satellite was an inevitable stage in the development of rocket technology. On 29 July 1955, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced through his press secretary that the United States would launch an artificial satellite during the International Geophysical Year (IGY). A week later, on 8 August, the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union approved the proposal to create an artificial satellite. On 30 August Vasily Ryabikov – the head of the State Commission on R-7 rocket test launches – held a meeting where Korolev presented calculation data for a spaceflight trajectory to the Moon. They decided to develop a three-stage version of the R-7 rocket for satellite launches. Under the direction of main engineer Dimitrij Sergeevich Mordasov, preliminary design work was completed by July 1956 and the scientific tasks to be carried out by the satellite were defined. It included measuring the density of the atmosphere, its ion composition, the solar wind, magnetic fields, and cosmic rays. This data would be valuable in the creation of future artificial satellites. A system of ground stations was to be developed to collect data transmitted by the satellite, observe the satellite's orbit, and transmit commands to the satellite. Because of the limited time frame, observations were planned for only 7 to 10 days and orbit calculations were not expected to be extremely accurate.