The 60th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, Earth’s first artificial satellite, is Wednesday, October 4. The Soviet Union heralded the launch as a national triumph, and the space race between the USSR and the US began. Sputnik 1 was fairly basic — a sphere with four antennas that transmitted a 1-W signals on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz, putting it within the range of nearly any amateur radio. A 58-centimeter diameter polished metal sphere, Sputnik 1 could be seen from Earth, orbiting the planet about once every 96 minutes. It had no stabilization system. Two aluminum casings bolted together with a seal created an airtight housing for the two transmitters plus temperature and pressure sensors.
On Oct. 4, 1957, the Space Age officially began when the Soviets lofted a 183-pound shiny sphere from their Baikonur cosmodrome in Central Asia. Sputnik, which took its name from the Russian word for “fellow traveler,” went into a 98-minute orbit around Earth — and the Soviets exulted in their success. The satellite’s prime payload was a radio transmitter sending out a harmless “beep-beep-beep” signal merely to declare its existence. Nevertheless, Sputnik struck fear into the hearts of Cold War Americans, who realized that the Soviets could just as well have lofted a nuclear-tipped missile to North America.
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