Hello Steemians!
Today I'm learning about the Sputnik 1 satellite!
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite launched by the Soviet Union.
A replica of Sputnik 1
It was launched on October 4, 1957. at 19:28 UTC and was carried by the Sputnik 8K71PS rocket to the low Earth orbit.
Launch of Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1 was a 58.5 cm metal sphere, with a mass of nearly 84 kg constructed by Mikhail S. Khomyakov
Mikhail Stepanovich Khomyakov working on Sputnik 1
It consisted of two hemispheres that were hermetically sealed with o-rings and connected by 36 bolts.
It had two pair of radio antennas designed by Mikhail V. Krayushkin, each was made from two whips with an 2.4m and 2.9m in length.
Sputnik 1 wasn't equipped with any scientific instruments or sensors, it just had a 1W radio transmission that sent pulses down to Earth, developed by Vyacheslav I. Lappo, and a power supply weighing 51 kg.
It traveled at a speed of 29,000 km/h making one orbit in 96.2 minutes and remained in the lower orbit where it helped the scientists by sending signals about the ionospheres and enabled the calculation of the density of the upper atmosphere.
Signals received from Sputnik in the Soviet Antarctic Base
The last contact with Sputnik 1 was made on October 26, 1957, just 22 days after it was launched.
It spent three months orbiting the Earth and finally after traveling about 70 million kilometers it burned out on January 4, 1958.
The success of the Sputnik 1 launch has triggered the so called Space Race, a competition in the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States in order to dominate the space which ultimately resulted in the first human spaceflight and the landing on the Moon.
Thank you for reading , I hope it was an interesting short lesson about Sputnik 1!
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org
https://mullard.org
http://www.history.com
http://spacerace1957.weebly.com
http://mentallandscape.com
https://www.youtube.com
http://space.skyrocket.de
http://www.space.com
http://nasa.gov
Follow and support me on the @Steemizen project!
Always I enjoyed reading about space. A lot of new and interesting, and there is still much to be explored!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I remember well Sputnik 1 (or Spoutnik 1 in French, Спутник 1 in Russian). I was 8 at the time.
(You need another minor edit: October 26, 1967 should be October 26, 1957)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Cool! Let me advertise two posts from @anarchyhasnogods (1 and 2) on the history of humans in space, that you may find interesting! :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Good post. Sputnik I also achieved time travel as it burned up before it was launched :-) (you need a minor edit 1958 should be 1968).
Also gave rise to a Russian magazine Sputnik in the style of readers Digest.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
you are wrong^^ it got launched in 1957, orbited the Earth for only about 3 months, burning up in 1958!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Apologies - I was not checking the facts only your article which said the last contact was in 1967 - nine years after it burned up.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
ah missed it sry :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Interesting post!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thank you for this interesting post! :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit