Sixty years ago this month a small silver orb made the first-ever orbit of planet Earth.
On the night of 4 October 1957 an R7 ‘Semyorka’ rocket launched from the Tyuratam missile range (now Baikonur Cosmodrome) in Kazakhstan. The 83kg satellite it delivered into orbit would change the world forever. As Sputnik transmitted its monotonous series of beeps to the world below, it announced the beginning of the Space Age.
Sputnik was a major scientific milestone, but it also had a massive political impact. The fact that this breakthrough had been made by the Soviet Union terrified the West and opened up a new front in the Cold War.
The satellite’s origins lay in the arms race that followed the Second World War. After the Americans had dropped their atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviets quickly developed a nuclear weapon of their own – but with no long-range bombers and no airstrips anywhere in range of the US, they had no way to deliver it. What they needed was a missile; a missile 10 times more powerful than anything that had been built before.
To build this missile Stalin appointed Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, a talented aeronautical engineer who would become the chief designer of the entire Soviet space programme. Korolev was undoubtedly the right man to build the missile, but he wasn’t really interested in warfare. He was interested in space exploration and from earliest of the days of the missile programme he was preparing to send his rockets into orbit.
By the mid 1950s the Soviets were working on a satellite named Object D. The plan was to launch it in 1957, as part of the International Geophysical Year. It would weigh over a tonne and would carry instruments to study the Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field, as well as the solar wind and cosmic rays.
This story is from the October 2017 edition of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the October 2017 edition of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Water, Water, Everywhere?
Penny Wozniakiewicz investigates why astronomers are so concerned with finding water in the Solar System, and why it is vital to our exploration of space
O&A WITH AN ECLIPSE CHASER
On 14 October 2023, an annular eclipse passed across mainland USA. Comedian and stargazer Jon Culshaw was there to witness it
Bresser ISA Space Exploration NASA 70/700 AZ telescope
This beginners' package has everything you need to see the Sun, Moon and planets
Ursa Major 6-inch f/8 Planetary Dobsonian
A decent option for would-be planetary observers on a limited budget
Use freeware to create star trail images
How to turn your frames into beautiful star trail photos in a few clicks
Venus's hostile atmosphere
Katrin Raynor takes a look at a planet where the skies boil and the clouds rain acid
Build your EYEPIECE COLLECTION
Great eyepieces are crucial to any astronomical setup. Here Tim Jardine arms you with the info you need to choose the best ones to invest in
THE BIG THREE
The top sights to observe or image this month
The remains of CREATION UNDERSTANDING THE CMB
Left over from the Big Bang, the cosmic microwave background gives astronomers an insight into the entire history of our Universe. Ezzy Pearson explains
A December GRAND TOUR
Just like the epic journeys of the Voyager probes to our Solar System's outer planets, this tour takes you to the gas and ice giants as they line up in the night sky this month. Stuart Atkinson is your guide