December 21, 2024
Editorials

Historic Highlights: Sputnik launched 67 years ago Oct. 4

Soviet satellite alarmed world, began space race

By Tom Emery

It was a round metal object the size of a beach ball, weighing only 183.9 pounds. Yet it managed to throw a nervous world into a panic.

Friday marked the anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, which was thrust into space by the Soviet Union on Oct. 4, 1957. The launch marked the beginning of the space race and was a landmark in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviets.

The launch, just months after Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev’s declaration that “we will bury you,” threw the United States into “near hysteria” in the words of one writer and “political pandemonium” in the words of another.

Sputnik was designed to correspond with the International Geophysical Year, set by the International Council of Scientific Unions in 1952 to last from July 1, 1957, to Dec. 31, 1958. In 1955, the U.S. had announced plans for its own satellite.

This first official picture of the Soviet satellite Sputnik I was issued in Moscow Oct. 9, 1957, showing the four-antennaed satellite resting on a three-legged pedestal. Working in obsessive secrecy, the Soviets propelled the Sputnik satellite into space on Oct. 4, 1957, making it the first man-made object to reach the limits of the earth's gravity. It mattered little that the small, silver orb had little purpose beyond achieving orbit and sending back a monotonous bleep-bleep signal as it circled the globe every 95 minutes during its three-month existence. At the height of the Cold War, Sputnik was one of the Soviet Union's most glorious victories and it touched off near panic in the United States, where political and military leaders forecast grave consequences if America lagged behind.

This first official picture of the Soviet satellite Sputnik I was issued in Moscow Oct. 9, 1957, showing the four-antennaed satellite resting on a three-legged pedestal. Working in obsessive secrecy, the Soviets propelled the Sputnik satellite into space on Oct. 4, 1957, making it the first man-made object to reach the limits of the earth's gravity. It mattered little that the small, silver orb had little purpose beyond achieving orbit and sending back a monotonous bleep-bleep signal as it circled the globe every 95 minutes during its three-month existence. At the height of the Cold War, Sputnik was one of the Soviet Union's most glorious victories and it touched off near panic in the United States, where political and military leaders forecast grave consequences if America lagged behind. (AP file photo/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The Soviets, however, beat the Americans to the punch, as they repeatedly did in the early years of the space race. At 10:29 p.m. Moscow time, the U.S.S.R. sent Sputnik, from the Russian word for “satellite,” from a launch base in the Kazakh Republic.

Sputnik, which resembled a silver metal ball with four spindly legs, was 22.8 inches in diameter and required 96 minutes to orbit the Earth at 17,956 miles per hour. On an elliptical path, Sputnik passed within 134 miles of Earth, and could be seen from the ground at times with the naked eye. It could also be heard, as its constant beeping sound could be picked up with proper equipment.

The launch rattled many Americans, fearful of the impact of the satellite on nuclear tensions with the Soviets and concerned that the U.S. was behind so quickly in the space movement. NBC termed the launch “the most important story of the century,” adding that the beeping of Sputnik was a “sound that forevermore separates the old from the new.”

A later commentator declared that “no event since Pearl Harbor set off such repercussions in public life.” President Dwight David Eisenhower did not reference Sputnik until a news conference on Oct. 9, when he termed Sputnik meaningless.

The Soviets followed the launch with Sputnik II on Nov. 3, which had a much heavier payload, including a dog named Laika.

Some modern writers point to a technological revolution sparked by Sputnik that reaches far beyond the space race, and even claim that the Internet has its roots in the applied research that arose from the Sputnik crisis.

Others also write that “frivolities” of American culture, such as automobile tail fins, were doomed by Sputnik, as many called for a refocusing of engineering and design talents.

That, of course, is a matter of debate, but there is no argument that the space race took flight with the launch of Sputnik. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration opened shortly after, in 1958.

By then, the Americans had launched their own satellite, Vanguard, in December 1957, which proved to be a colossal failure. The much-hyped Vanguard reached 4 feet off the ground, then crashed on the launch pad in flames.

Finally, the United States succeeded with the launch of Explorer I on Jan. 31, 1958. That same month, as planned, Sputnik’s orbit had diminished, and the satellite burned up in Earth’s atmosphere.

The Soviets eventually scored a string of firsts in the space race, including the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, in April 1961 and the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, in June 1963. The U.S.S.R. also launched the first three-person orbital flight in October 1964 and the first spacewalk the next March.

However, the Americans earned the biggest prize, becoming the first to successfully land a mission on the moon. Twelve American astronauts walked on the moon in six landings between 1969-72, while no Soviet cosmonaut ever stepped on the lunar surface.

The primitive Sputnik was the first of thousands of satellite launches that followed. In the first 25 years after Sputnik, some 2,000 satellites from 24 nations were sent into space, or one every 3.8 days.

In 1999, a reported 2,500 satellites, serving everything from telecommunications to weather prediction and crop growth to military navigation, were circling the Earth.

• Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Illinois. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.

OpinionColumn