Sputnik - Space Junk Series #09 Traditional Cache

There is always an imminent threat of "something falling from space"...

This series commemorates space junk that fell to Earth off various satellites during the past few weeks. Extreme measures were exhausted to FTF these marvelous historic pieces for your enjoyment before muggles got to them, so please treat them with awe and respect. All space junk pieces have been scrutinised for outer space viruses, bacteria, other contaminants, ionisized Psychlodinian dust and ear worm eggs. Those that showed any threat were incinerated for your safety, except for the SPUTNIK piece.... It is Russian. It does not want to melt...

Each piece also warrants some edification on its source

This is the R2-D2 of satellites - everybody's favourite

SPUTNIK

With a single shot, the Soviet Union vaulted ahead in the Space Race. The country sent Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, into space on 04 October 1957. The small satellite brought the Soviet Union into the technological spotlight and demonstrated that the country was capable of modern feats. The program sent a shockwave through the American public. Was the United States falling behind? Could Sputnik be a play on the part of the Soviets to put arms in space? Is space a worthy place to compete for world prestige? These were all questions Americans asked in the months following the beach ball-sized satellite's trip into Earth orbit. Meanwhile, the Soviets quietly launched bigger and more powerful satellites, demonstrating they were in space to stay

Beginning of the Space Race

Sputnik ("traveling companion" in Russian) was a silver sphere with four long antennas. It was about 560mm in diameter and weighed 83kg. Circling the Earth every 98 minutes, it used a radio beacon that was able to pinpoint spots on the Earth's surface. Working with a group of German rocket engineers who had built the V-2 rocket program that threw missiles at London, the Soviets spent about a decade after the Second World War plotting how to lob a satellite into space

According to Russian Space Web, Sputnik was actually a scaled-back versionof the satellite the Soviets had hoped to launch. While the Soviets had plans to put a 1,000- to 1,400-kilogram (2,205 to 3,086 pounds) satellite into orbit, they wanted to do it in time for International Geophysical Year of 1957-8, when the United States had a publicly stated goal of launching a satellite itself. Issues with one of the planned scientific instruments threatened that timeline, so the Soviets compromised with a simpler satellite to meet that date

Sputnik may have been a compromise, but in the eyes of the world it was a large feat. The beeping noise it played from space echoed in worldwide radio broadcasts as well as on television sets

It stayed in orbit over 90 days. Americans became hysterical with questions... This hysteria increased a month later when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2 on 03 November 1957, with a dog, Laika, aboard. Sputnik 2 weighed 508kg and orbited the Earth for almost 200 days. This showed Sputnik was no fluke

But the Americans were ready to show off their flight skills through a rocket program called Vanguard, under development by the Navy. The first rocket was set to blast off on Dec. 6, 1957. Horrified American officials watched as the rocket blew up on the pad, live in front of a nationwide television audience. Even after the Americans got the Explorer 1 satellite into orbit on Jan. 31, 1958, using rocket technology developed principally by Germans who worked on the V-2, the Soviets were clearly in the lead

President Dwight Eisenhower authorized the creation of NASA, which began searching for American astronauts. Sputnik proved to be the spark that got the American space effort going

Sputnik 3 left Earth on 15 May 1958. Weighing in at almost 1,361kg the satellite also served as a scientific laboratory. Its 12 instruments measured the composition of Earth's upper atmosphere, the areas in orbit where charged particles from the sun congregated, and bits of meteors swirling nearby. Its greatest discovery was finding the outer radiation belts of Earth

Sputnik 3 stayed aloft for almost two years, entering Earth's atmosphere on 06 April 1960 and marked the end of the Sputnik program. This led to President John F. Kennedy's speech challenging Americans to put a man on the moon within the decade

(Adapted from contents credit to SPACE)