Download Sputnik and The Dawn of the Space Age

Sputnik and The Dawn of the Space Age
Tomado de http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/
History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first
artificial satellite was about the size of a basketball, weighed only 183 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit
the Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific
developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.U.S.S.R space race.
The story begins in 1952, when the International Council of Scientific Unions decided to establish July 1, 1957, to
December 31, 1958, as the International Geophysical Year (IGY) because the scientists knew that the cycles of
solar activity would be at a high point then. In October 1954, the council adopted a resolution calling for artificial
satellites to be launched during the IGY to map the Earth's surface.
In July 1955, the White House announced plans to launch an Earth-orbiting satellite for the IGY and solicited
proposals from various Government research agencies to undertake development. In September 1955, the Naval
Research Laboratory's Vanguard proposal was chosen to represent the U.S. during the IGY.
The Sputnik launch changed everything. As a technical achievement, Sputnik caught the world's attention and the
American public off-guard. Its size was more impressive than Vanguard's intended 3.5-pound payload. In addition,
the public feared that the Soviets' ability to launch satellites also translated into the capability to launch ballistic
missiles that could carry nuclear weapons from Europe to the U.S. Then the Soviets struck again; on November 3,
Sputnik II was launched, carrying a much heavier payload, including a dog named Laika.
Immediately after the Sputnik I launch in October, the U.S. Defense Department responded to the political furor by
approving funding for another U.S. satellite project. As a simultaneous alternative to Vanguard, Wernher von
Braun and his Army Redstone Arsenal team began work on the Explorer project.
On January 31, 1958, the tide changed, when the United States successfully launched Explorer I. This satellite
carried a small scientific payload that eventually discovered the magnetic radiation belts around the Earth, named
after principal investigator James Van Allen. The Explorer program continued as a successful ongoing series of
lightweight, scientifically useful spacecraft.
The Sputnik launch also led directly to the creation of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In
July 1958, Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act (commonly called the "Space Act"), which
created NASA as of October 1, 1958 from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and other
government agencies.
*-*-*-*Beep, Beep, Beep...
Here Comes Sputnik!
Tomado de http://www.batnet.com/mfwright/sputnik.html
created August 30, 1997
Last update: 3/16/02
New! The Shock of the Century by Washington journalist Paul Dickson: Go to http://sputnikbook.com for an
outline on this book. There are photos, introduction, and several links.
Never before had so small and so harmless an object created such consternation.
Daniel J. Boorstin, The Americans: The Democratic Experience
Editor's note:
It's been a really long time ("billions and billions...") since I have checked the following links or updated this page.
Sorry some the links are dead but I have found a collection of links, including the NY Times that has the actual
front page headlines of the Sputnik news and events in October 1957. For this and other links click here.
This website was created for the 40th commemoration of the beginning of the Space Age. Contributions and
corrections are most welcome. I admit there are some sweeping overgeneralizations in this page and I'm not
attempting to have an accurate word-for-word historical account of these events..
October 4, 1957 (40 years ago):
The Russians launched the first artificial satellite from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan which
demonstrated the technological superiority of Communism (actually more of a propaganda pain for the US). They
equipped the Sputnik with transmitters to broadcast on frequencies at 20 and 40 MHz so everyone will know it's up
there.
The United States was shocked. Senator Lyndon Johnson said the Russians have jumped way ahead of us in the
conquest of space. "Soon, they will be dropping bombs on us from space like kids dropping rocks onto cars from
freeway overpasses!*" [*from a movie that dramatized the emotional impact of that day]. Everyone in the United
States were constantly reminded that the Russians were well on the way in conquering space and newspaper
headlines, "REDS ORBIT ARTIFICIAL MOON" and "SOVIET SATELLITE CIRCLES GLOBE EVERY 90
MINUTES".
Reactions by Americans:
Many people did not know how to think of a satellite in orbit. It was too mysterious for them, "What is a 184
pound object in orbit?" "Are they looking down at us?"
Engineering colleges were flooded with new students the following quarter. It was as if everyone was "joining
the army" to take on the Russians in the New Frontier.
Everyone on Johnston Island in the Pacific were issued sidearms to carry at all times. Johnston Island is so
small it only has room for a runway and a hanger for airplanes.
Students at Case Institute immediately became "Rocket Scientists" and stayed up many late nights discussing
various methods of space travel.
Jim Dawsons, science writer for the Star Tribune, wrote about how his third grade teacher was very nervous at
the time. His school at Omaha, Neb., was just a few miles from the Air Force's Strategic Air Command
headquarters. A fleet of F-100 fighters appeared in the sky coming right for the school. "MiGs!" the teacher
shrieked. "MiGs!" She ran, hysterical, from the classroom, convinced they were about to be nuked by Russian
fighter jets. The kids, mostly Air Force brats, ran to the windows to admire the F-100s, the coolest jet of its day.
Politicians and editorialists began attacking the U.S. educational system for having fallen behind Soviet schools
in training people in the sciences and other fields.
Former President Harry Truman was moved to comment, charging the "persecution" of prominent U.S.
scientists by Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the early 1950s had been a setback to the nation's development of
satellites and rockets.
Ross Perot became inspired by the Sputnik to create an electronics dynasty.
After observing Sputnik, seven year old Franklin Chang-Dìaz of Costa Rica became infatuated with space travel
and eventually became a NASA astronaut.
Tom A. posted on the newsgroup about an American entreprenuer had a "Sputnik" gumball for sale at the local
candy store. It was blue and had protrusions sticking out of it to simulate Sputnik's antenna, and it was delicious.
President Dwight Eisenhower was surprised but not as anxious as everyone else. He had photographs of the
Russian launch facilities that were obtained from U2 flights over Soviet territory the United States was conducting
since 1956. So immediately after the Sputnik launch President Eisenhower did not see it as an immediate military
threat and he tried to lessen the political impact. But Eisenhower could not disclose intelligence gathered by the U2
flights, and he was not successful in damping the political impact. Thus the "Missile Gap" argument was born.
The Sputnik launch occurred back in the days when the Pentium had vacuum tubes, and during this period the
Americans and the Russians regarded each other as enemies (also known as the "Cold War"). They built massive
armies, navies, and air forces and were prepared to engage in global war at a moments notice. American military
manuals regarded the Russians as "The Threat," and Soviet government went as far as training many non-military
citizens on use of small arms to prepare for an invasion from "The Imperialists."
The United States tried to gain a foothold on the High Ground with the satellite Vanguard but it exploded on the
launch pad and everyone laughed at the U.S. silly; some called it the "Kaputnik." And it wasn't as bad as just a
launch failure, the vanguard satellite only the size of a grapefruit. The Sputnik 1 was 184 pounds and the Russians
launched the previous month Sputnik 2 which was 1100 pounds and carried a live dog, Laika. There were lots of
finger pointing, yelling, but also some had said that Sputnik didn't pose an immediate military threat. Although the
same vehicle that can put a satellite into orbit can also vault a nuclear bomb across continents, nobody had solved
the problem of shielding a satellite, or a warhead, during atmosphere re-entry. But it was that blasted "beep, beep,
beep" every 90 minutes reminding the U.S., "Razzzzzz, we beat you!"
To hear the sounds of Sputnik, Candice Rich of the pop music webpage http://fiftiesweb.com, has a wav file at
http://fiftiesweb.com/pop/sputnik.wav
Vanguard Sidenote:
Briefly, (very briefly), they weren't trying to beat the Russians, only trying to launch one and only one satellite.
They also wanted to conduct one experiment successfully sometime during the International Geophysical Year (the
18-month "year" designated by scientists as January 1957 to July 1958). This was in the hot time of the Cold War,
when both the Soviets and the US were trying to develop ICBMs and IRBMs, and Vanguard had NO military
priority. The Vanguard team had to struggle and fight for money, range time at the Cape, buying equipment, etc.
etc.
The entire program was just 14 launch vehicles, and not all of those were "satellite launch vehicles." The big
collapse of TV-3 in December 57 was a Test Vehicle, and the "grapefruit" satellite in its nosecone was kind of an
afterthought: "Gee, if all the three stages work perfectly, as a bonus we could put a small satellite into orbit. So let's
make a small one and try it." TV-3 was the FIRST attempt to launch the entire "stack." (Later, in the Apollo era,
this kind of test came to be known honorably as "all-up systems engineering test").
The Vanguard I satellite, launched successfully on March 17, 1958 is now the oldest manufactured object in orbit.
While it hasn't be actively transmitting for a good many years, it is in a highly stable orbit and will probably remain
there for several hundred more years.
For an interesting web site on Vanguard, go to http://home5.swipnet.se/~w-52936/index20.htm.
[now back to our regular scheduled program]
However, a "war" on and the U.S. had to get SOMETHING in orbit and soon. Werner Von Braun and his rocket
team finally got permission to launch the Explorer satellite and they successfully launch it on January 31, 1958.
Explorer 1, a scientific satellite, used a rocket that had been developed to test guided missile components (also the
same rocket later used as a IRBM placed in Turkey and aimed towards the Soviet Union). Explorer 1 carried an
instrument package that provided evidence that the Earth is surrounded by intense bands of radiation, now called
the Van Allen radiation belts.
The U.S. could have put the first satellite in orbit in 1956 with a Jupiter rocket that reached 700 miles altitude and
just 1000 mph short of orbital speed. However, those working with the launch vehicle were ordered to make sure
the third stage was a dummy. President Eisenhower was nervous about the U2 flights over the Soviet Union and a
U2 being shot down. That was one of the reasons he was reluctant to place a satellite in orbit because then it would
have been another American object passing over the Soviet Union. Others in top government didn't want to
embarrass anyone by putting the first satellite in orbit. There were other conflicts as well. The three U.S. military
services (Army, Navy, Air Force) each had their preference of how to deploy space vehicles thus wasted much
time arguing among themselves [the Marines probably said it didn't matter which service leads the conquest of
space, but it couldn't be done without an amphibious landing! Maybe this is why John Glenn was the most popular
among the first astronauts].
In a Associated Press article by Greg Myre, Russian scientist Arkady Ostashev said, "Those were great days. It was
a lot of fun." Ostashev was part of a handpicked team and he was responsible for testing the rockets used for
launching Sputnik. Sergei Korolev, father of the Soviet space program, told Ostashev and his colleagues after their
triumph, "Congratulations, the road to the stars is now open." Although the Baikonur launch complex was so
isolated that Ostashev and his colleagues, desperate for entertainment, would catch scorpions, put them in glass jars
and watch them fight to the death.
Another sidenote:
Sergei Korolev had to struggle with many in the Soviet government who thought satellites and men in space was a
waste of time. While working the technical challenges, he also had many political challenges from those preventing
him from getting the resources he needed for the space program he managed. For more information on this, read
the excellent book about Sergei, "Korolev: How One Man Masterminded The Soviet Drive To Beat America To
The Moon" (by James Harford, 1997, John Wiley & Sons).
Many things happened after October 1957. Here is a brief list of what the United States did:
Created NASA as the single agency to mobilize U.S. resources to beat the Reds to the stars.
Created the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). The purpose behind ARPA was to research new
technologies that where too risky to the private industry. In 1969 they created the ARPAnet to research transfer
protocols between computers across systems, the predecessor to the Internet.
Passed the National Defense Education Act.
Aerospace companies began a new engineer recruitment campaign: All you need is a pulse and a degree.
United States and Great Britain realign as allies.
Homer Hickam Jr. and his colleagues created the Big Creek Missile Agency in West Virginia in response to the
Sputnik. For more information on a 1999 movie portrayal of this, see http://www.octobersky.com.
From this point, space development really got underway. Both the Americans and Russians embarked on
developing spaceships to carry humans. The U.S. decided to recruit a select few for this bold new frontier, Test
Pilots: Rugged men (no girls allowed!), dashing good looks, brains, and courage (willing to ride stillunderdevelopment ICBM launch vehicles). "We'll beat 'em this time!" as many in the U.S. said when NASA
presented their first seven astronauts. Then the next thing they knew Soviet Air Force Major Yuri Alekseyevich
Gararin became the first human to travel in space. And it wasn't just a suborbital flight as planned for first two
flights of the Mercury astronauts (or those regularly practiced by X15 rocketplane pilots), but one full REAL orbit!
(Yuri Gararin webpage at http://www.kosmonaut.se/gagarin).
In 1961, President Kennedy challenged the Russians in a race to the Moon. In 1969, the U.S. got there first and the
Russians re-focused their efforts on permanent presence in space with a Space Station. However, things didn't go
too well for both sides. The United States got themselves in a terrible jam in a country called Vietnam and had
many social, economic, and political woes. They developed the Space Shuttle after the Apollo lunar transport
system was decommissioned. Meanwhile, the Russians got embroiled in Afghanistan, which became "their
Vietnam," and also suffered a deteriorating economic infrastructure.
Forty years ago the reaction throughout the United States was universal: We're all gonna die. It's forty years later
after that momentous date and what is the legacy of Sputnik? Shuttle-Mir!. The Russians and the Americans have
teamed together to establish a permanent human presence in space. If you are going to have a Space Shuttle, then
its gotta go someplace like a space station. And if you have a Space Station, then you need a shuttle to transport
station crews. Visit the Shuttle-Mir Web Site (http://shuttle-mir.nasa.gov).
Here is a fascinating article about a Russian scientist who worked on the Sputnik:
"Sputnik Marked Exciting Time for Russian Scientist"
By Greg Myre, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.myrtlebeachaccess.com/news/97-9-3/spu4a.htm.
The R7 Rocket: The Sputnik Carrier
In the October 1, 1997 article of the Christian Science Monitor ("A Tale Of Soviets' Secret Aim" by Peter Ford)
has a interesting article about Boris Chertok, the deputy director of the ICBM project. The purpose of the R-7
rocket was to drop nuclear bombs on American cities. That rocket was the fruit of a crash program launched in
1953 by the Soviet government as it strove desperately to catch up with the United States in the arms race.
Moscow had built an atom bomb, but it had no way to deliver it anywhere in America. While US strategic bombers
were stationed at NATO airbases all around Soviet borders, in the mid-1950s the Soviet Air Force had no plane
capable of reaching US targets and returning.
As far as his colleagues were concerned, space was just enroute from Moscow to Washington for a Soviet nuclear
bomb. Mr. Sergei Korolev, however, had raised the prospect of a satellite launch in a secret memo to the Soviet
government in 1954. He had been given the go-ahead to set up a team to build one.
The satellite team, working on an ambitious 3,000-pound apparatus packed with scientific instruments, was behind
schedule. Korolev had a brilliant idea. 'We'll make a simple satellite ourselves.' And in just two months our plant
made the world's first artificial satellite."
Chertok was stunned by the effect of the news. "We thought the satellite was just a simple thing: what mattered to
us was to test the rocket again to gather statistics on how its systems were functioning. And suddenly the whole
world was abuzz. It was only later that we understood what we had done."
Chertok said that Baikonur, the Soviet Cape Canaveral, was "a terrible piece of barren steppe," he remembers,
where summer temperatures could reach 122 degrees F., where the scientists and mechanics lived in railway cars,
and where there was so little natural water they sometimes washed in bottled mineral water.
"Unpublished Drawings" of the R7 rocket that put Sputnik into orbit is available at the Saturn Press website at
http://members.aol.com/satrnpress/saturn.htm. Saturn Press specializes in rocketry publications, offering a
complete line of products for modelers and space enthusiasts.
For those not around in 1957...Sputnik Orbited Again 40 Years Later
The Sputnik replica, built by French and Russian teenagers, died after two months in orbit. It was hand-launched
from Mir in November 3, 1997 and the batteries were expected to last no more than two months. Its transmission
frequency was 145.820 MHz which provided the opportunity for many around the world hear the "beep-beepbeep" transmissions from this replica of Sputnik, just like listeners did with the original Sputnik in the 1950s.
However, the satellite achieved its mission objective. Built as if the teenagers followed the criteria specified by
NASA Administrator Dan Goldin's "Better, Faster, Cheaper" spacecraft design philosophy, many people around
the world were able to use their 2 meter ham receivers to pickup transmissions. The satellite is expected to remain
in orbit for about a year (from November 1997).
For more details on the Sputnik replica, see article "Sputnik Orbits Again" below, or visit the Angspoutnik (the
teenagers that built Sputnik replica) website: http://www.oceanes.fr/~fr5fc/angspoutnik.html
JAN 9, 1998 UPDATE:
Sputnik replica batteries have finally been exhausted as no one has able to pickup more transmissions. The satellite
is expected to re-enter the earth's atmosphere in about a year.
Many people were able to pickup the transmissions even with handhelds.
A related article, "Russians Put The Beep Back In Space With Sputnik Replica," StarNet, Tucson AZ, Nov 16,
1997 at http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/uk1301.html
Working Model Sputnik is on the Air
[from ARRL Space Bulletin 34, dated 4th November, 1997]
Reports from several places indicate the working model Sputnik PS2 satellite launched Monday, November 3,
from the Mir space station is beeping away on 145.82 MHz. The one-third scale Sputnik model was built by
students in Russia and France to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the original Sputnik 1 satellite. Sputnik 1,
launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, was the first artificial Earth satellite. The original Sputnik 1 transmitted a
beacon on approximately 20 MHz.
The Sputnik model was launched by hand from Mir during a space walk by Cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and
Anatoly Solovyev, who turned on the transmitter and checked out reception aboard Mir before launch with help
from US astronaut David Wolf, KC5VPF. The beacon is audible in either FM or SSB mode. The beacon
transmitter runs approximately 250 mW.
Several stations have reported hearing Sputnik PS2 on the nominal frequency of 145.82 MHz, Doppler shift giving
slighty higher frequency on acquisition of signal, and slightly lower at loss of signal. The signal is reportedly
clearly audible even on a hand-held.
On Reunion Island, a great cheer went up as hams, students and teachers gathered to listen to the Sputnik model as
it passed overhead on its initial orbit and heard the beacon signal from space for the first time. Students from the
FR5KJ radio club at Jules Reydellet College in St Denis, Reunion Island, and at the Polytechnic Laboratory of
Nalchik Kabardine in Russia cooperated in building the mini-Sputnik. The Russian students built the satellite body,
while the French students fabricated the transmitter inside. Two working models of the Sputnik were assembled
and transported to Mir, but only one was launched. The 500 mm antennas are circularly polarized. Reception
reports go to FR5KJ, the club station at College Reydellet.
FR5KJ radio club will publish a diploma available for listeners. It will be numerated and authenticated by the
stamp of the club. The list of diploma's owners will figure in a witness book. Diplomas will be sent after RS17
vanishing (no more signal transmission). The difference between a QSL card and a diploma : a QSL concern
especially Amateur Radio. A Diploma has an idea larger of the commemoration. It addresses to people who want
to keep a beautiful "memory" of the event. The format adopted 15x21cm and will be in 4 colors on special paper.
For occasional listenners, they will have to indicate the call sign of the station and the operator will certify the
accuracy of the contact.
Diplomas will be sent after RS17 emits no more signal transmissions.
Diploma request via email will be rejected.
Send your reports (SASE envelope plus IRC) to:
FR5KJ radio club
103 rue de la Republique
97489 Saint Denis Cedex
Reunion Island
For more information, see http://www.oceanes.fr/~fr5fc/angecouteurs.html
Reception reports also may be sent to:
Sergej Samburov
PO Box 73
Kaliningrad-10 City
Moscow Area, 14070, Russia
Include an SASE and one IRC for a certificate. [This special QSL card is available to anyone who copies the
beacon from the Sputnik satellite. Envelopes should be well sealed and not include cash. Send an SASE and an
IRC (International Reply Coupon available from the post office) to the address above, and do not make any visible
notes on the outside of the envelope with Amateur Radio callsigns.]
The frequency of the beacon audio indicates the satellite's internal temperature. The scale runs from 1361 Hz at 50
degrees C to 541 Hz at minus 40 degrees C.
[from a posting on the newsgroups]:
Degs (C) Freq (Hz)
50 1361
30 1290
25 1261
10 1208
0
1131
-10
1040
-20
891
-30
724
-40
541
[from AMSAT/"This Week in Amateur Radio"]:
Following launch, the scale model of Sputnik will remain close to the Russian space station. It's estimated that its
batteries will hold up for up to two months. It's unclear what will happen to the satellite when it's no longer
operational. For more information, see the Angspoutnik website at http://www.oceanes.fr/~fr5fc/angspoutnik.html
The Sputnik replica is also called the RS-17 and its trajectory is different than Mir's. The Kep elements (used in
tracking programs) for the RS-17 can be found at http://128.54.16.15:80/amsat/ftp/keps/current/nasa.all
Applicable websites:
Tracking software for satellites: http://shuttle.nasa.gov/demos/tracksw
Sputnik replica, designated RS-17, kep elements: http://128.54.16.15:80/amsat/ftp/keps/current/nasa.all
Current location of Mir Space Station: http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/temp/mir_loc.html
Mir sighting opportunities: http://shuttle-mir.nasa.gov/shuttle-mir/ops/mir/tracking/
Latest Kep elements for Mir: http://shuttle-mir.nasa.gov/shuttle-mir/ops/mir/tracking/vector.txt
Angspoutnik (the teenagers that built Sputnik replica) website: http://www.oceanes.fr/~fr5fc/angspoutnik.html
A related article can be found here:
Mini-Sputnik to be Tossed From Mir
The American Radio Relay League Letter Online, Volume 16, Number 33
August 22, 1997
http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/970822/#mini-sputnik
British historian Rip Bulkeley, [email protected], is researching the "surprise" aspects of Sputnik 1. He sent me a
discussion and some questions about the Sputnik, including the Soviet amateur radio magazine Radio published
several detailed accounts of the future sputniks, including their telemetry frequencies, of which western scientists
were still largely unaware, in June thru September 1957. Click here to read his letter to me, and if you can answer
his questions, then he would appreciate an answer.
News Articles
Near the date of October 4, 1997, there were various newspaper articles written about Sputnik and some of these
are available online. These articles were found at Newsworks located at
http://search.newsworks.com/addquery.html?qt=Sputnik. A slightly different input to the Newsworks using
http://search.newsworks.com/addquery.html?qt=%22Sputnik%22 will yield some different articles.
For your convenience, I have listed some of these articles here. They are also good historical references:
Mir's Crew Removes Old Solar Panel in Six-Hour Spacewalk
MOSCOW (AP), November 3
http://www.flatoday.com/space/today/110397b.htm
Launching of Sputnik 40 Years Ago 'Defining Moment' in History
By Larry Wheeler of FLORIDA TODAY
http://www.flatoday.com/space/explore/probes/sputnik/sputstoa.htm
The Evil Empire's Beep-Beeps Traumatized Americans in 1957
By Bill Foley, Columnist, T-U Online, Jacksonville FL
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/100897/allfoley.html
For Better Or Worse . . . U.S., Russia Wed in Space on Mir
Austin 360: By Charles W. Holmes, American-Statesman
http://www.austin360.com/news/09sep/29/space29.htm
Stung by Mir, Russia to Launch Sputnik Replica
August 4, 1997
http://www.lubbockonline.com/news/080497/stungby.htm
Russian Space Program Places High Hopes on New Sputnik
The Washington Post, July 31, 1997; Page A20
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-07/31/132l-073197-idx.html
The following article was written ten years ago and here is where you can see the then on-going attitude that the
Russians were enemies. Back then, the United States was doing everything it could to beat the Russians in space
exploration. Nowdays, the United States is doing everything it can to work with the Russians in space exploration
[amazing what can happen in ten years].
With Sputnik Launch 30 Years Ago, Space Race was in Orbit
Houston Chronicle, October 4, 1987
http://www.chron.com/content/interactive/space/archives/87////871004.html
Another place to find articles on Sputnik is the newsgroups. Use Dejanews at http://www.dejanews.com to search
for applicable postings on Sputnik. I recommend you type in Sputnik satellite for the search string, otherwise you
will get lots of postings not applicable to the spacecraft. Dejanews archives EVERYTHING on ALL newsgroups,
and is very useful to find subject matter of your interest instead of having to read every stinking article on the
newsgroups.
Web Sites
Editors Note: I've surfed around for some Sputnik related sites and these are some of what I've found [also
includes sites brought to my attention by visitors]:
S.P. Korolev Rocket & Space Corporation Energia at http://www.energia.ru/english/index.html
SPUTNIK home page (at http://sputnik.infospace.ru) is described as "dedicated to 40th anniversary of the first
artificial Earth satellite launch." There is also a link to the Russian Space Monitoring Information Support
laboratory (SMIS) of Space Research Institute (IKI RAN).
Sounds of early satellites including Sputnik are at http://www.amsat.org/amsat/features/sounds/firstsat.html
Space Projects site by Vic Stathopoulos includes Sputnik at http://members.lycos.co.uk/spaceprojects/index.html
NASA has an extensive web page on Sputnik at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/index.html
USSR documents (available at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/ussr.html) includes:
"Announcement of the First Satellite," from Pravda, October 5, 1957
A Report On An Artificial Earth Satellite
A Report On the Feasibility of Development of an Artificial Earth Satellite
Synopsis of Report on Development of Conceptual Design of an Artificial Earth Satellite
Proposals of First Launches of Artificial Earth Satellites
Preliminary Considerations Of Prospective Work On The Development Of Outer Space
An assortment of excellent papers can be found online at the NASA site:
Sputnik and the Origins of the Space Age by Roger D. Launius
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/sputorig.html
Korolev's Triple Play: Sputniks 1, 2, and 3 by James Harford
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/harford.html
Korolev, Sputnik, and The International Geophysical Year by Asif A. Siddiqi
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/siddiqi.html
The "Chief Designer" Sergei Pavlovitch Korolev (1906-1966), the Russian spacecraft designer who advocated the
Sputnik satellite and also headed the Vostok and Voskhod projects, as well as the early Zond and Cosmos series.
58K JPEG image of Korolev at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/korolev.jpg
Image of Sputnik (47K JPEG) at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/sputnik1.jpg
IKI HEAD Home Page High Energy Astrophysics at IKI, Moscow High Energy Astrophysics department at IKI,
Moscow, is carrying out research in various fields of X-ray astronomy: physical processes in the vicinity of
compact sources of x-ray emission, x-ray observations... Their website is at http://kisa.iki.rssi.ru
Sputnik 1: The Beep Heard Round the World at http://www.adventure.com/encyclopedia/general/rfisputn.html
The Smithsonian museum has a page that includes Sputnik at
http://ceps.nasm.edu/GALLERIES/GAL100/satellites.html
This site has a good description of the Sputnik Satellites and Launch Vehicles at
http://nauts.com/histpace/vehicles/histsputnik.html
This site has a brief description of Sputnik: http://windows.engin.umich.edu/space_missions/sputnik.html
There is also a song about Sputnik at http://www.docs.uu.se/~larsmats/blipp/Lyrics/English/sputnik.html.
"Sputnik" is by a techno-pop band from Sweden called "Blipp". Their home page is at
http://www.docs.uu.se/~larsmats/blipp/, which also has sound samples. [thank you Tim]
Here we have a New Yorker who is building a three wheeled vehicle described as, "Uniquely designed and
specially engineered Didik Sputnik, with its 360 degree clear high impact cockpit resembles a cross between a
Flash Gorden rocket ship and the first manmade satellite, Sputnik." See http://www.ddgn.com/carman/art_sput.htm