Make: Online : Sputnik 50th anniversary

Sputnik 50th anniversary

Sputnik1
Happy 50th 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.

Sputnik - Link.

Sputnik Thumb
And of course, the R7-Sputnik 1. rocket paper craft! - Link.

Comments

Oldest comments listed first.

Posted by: andyland63 on October 4, 2007 at 7:13 AM

Um, yeah, if your basketball is 23" in diameter. The basketball comparison is often quoted but never right. A Hippity Hop is a better indicator of scale.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_hopper

The link to the R7 goes to an "access denied" page. Bummer, I'd really like to build the paper R7...

Anyway, I was happy to see the Sputnik post on this historic day, thanks.

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Posted by: sangfroid on October 4, 2007 at 9:06 AM

IEEE did a pretty extensive anniversary package on Sputnik with interviews of Arthur C. Clarke and others. It's worth checking out.
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/sputnik

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Posted by: matthew_kleinmann on October 4, 2007 at 9:54 AM

Any of you out there know of any schematics or engineering diagrams for Sputnik? I really wan tto see what the level of technology was.

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Posted by: danielj on October 4, 2007 at 3:34 PM

If you happen to be in Toronto October 4th, the Critical Media Society is sponsoring a Sputnik film night with speakers: http://www.criticalmedia.ca/#sputnik

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Posted by: jhazline_20 on April 17, 2008 at 8:01 PM

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Wow! excellent, I have to admit that I never know that Sputnik 1. was the first artificial satellite launched in outer space. Now I know. It's kinda amazing that it only sized as a basketball. And I like the R7-Sputnik 1. rocket paper craft. excellent copy of the original one, good stuff to have, isn't it?

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jhazline_20
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