In what year was it launched by the Soviet Union. The first artificial Earth satellite in photographs. Unique strategy game

14.11.2021

October 4, 1957 on earth orbit was the first in the world artificial satellite Earth, discovered space age in the history of mankind.

The satellite that became the first artificial celestial body, was launched into orbit by the R-7 launch vehicle from the 5th Research Test Site of the USSR Ministry of Defense, which later received the open name Baikonur Cosmodrome.

This was reported to our correspondent in the press service of Roscosmos.

The spacecraft PS-1 (the simplest satellite-1) was a ball with a diameter of 58 centimeters, weighed 83.6 kilograms, was equipped with four pin antennas 2.4 and 2.9 meters long for transmitting signals from battery-powered transmitters.

295 seconds after the launch, the PS-1 and the central block of the rocket weighing 7.5 tons were launched into an elliptical orbit at an apogee of 947 km and a perigee of 288 km. At 315 seconds after the launch, the satellite separated from the second stage of the launch vehicle, and immediately the whole world heard its call signs.

“... On October 4, 1957, the first satellite was successfully launched in the USSR. According to preliminary data, the launch vehicle reported to the satellite the required orbital speed of about 8000 meters per second. At present, the satellite describes elliptical trajectories around the Earth and its flight can be observed in the rays of the rising and setting sun using the simplest optical instruments (binoculars, telescopes, etc.). According to the calculations, which are now being refined by direct observations, the satellite will move at altitudes up to 900 kilometers above the Earth's surface; the time of one complete revolution of the satellite will be 1 hour 35 minutes, the angle of inclination of the orbit to the plane of the equator is 65 °. Over the area of the city of Moscow on October 5, 1957, the satellite will pass twice - at 1 hour 46 minutes. night and at 6 o'clock. 42 min. morning Moscow time. Messages about the subsequent movement of the first artificial satellite, launched in the USSR on October 4, will be transmitted regularly by broadcast radio stations. The satellite has the shape of a ball with a diameter of 58 cm and a weight of 83.6 kg. Two radio transmitters are installed on it, continuously emitting radio signals with a frequency of 20.005 and 40.002 megahertz (wavelength about 15 and 7.5 meters, respectively). The power of the transmitters ensures reliable reception of radio signals by a wide range of radio amateurs. The signals have the form of telegraph parcels with a duration of about 0.3 seconds. with a pause of the same duration. A signal of one frequency is sent during a pause of a signal of another frequency ... ".

Scientists M.V. Keldysh, M.K. Tihonravov, N.S. Lidorenko, V.I. Lapko, B.S. Chekunov and many others. The PS-1 satellite flew for 92 days, until January 4, 1958, making 1440 revolutions around the Earth (about 60 million kilometers), and its radio transmitters worked for two weeks after launch. The launch of an artificial satellite of the Earth was of great importance for the knowledge of the properties of outer space and the study of the Earth as a planet in our solar system.

The analysis of the received signals from the satellite gave scientists the opportunity to study the upper layers of the ionosphere, which was not possible before. In addition, the most useful information for further launches on the operating conditions of the equipment was obtained, all calculations were checked, and the density of the upper atmosphere was determined by satellite deceleration.

The launch of the first artificial satellite of the Earth received a huge world response. The whole world learned about his flight. The entire world press was talking about this event. In September 1967, the International Astronautical Federation proclaimed October 4 as the Day of the Beginning of the Human Space Age.

The space age began exactly 50 years ago: on October 4, 1957, the first Soviet artificial Earth satellite was launched into orbit.

Back in 1939, one of the founders of practical cosmonautics in our country, the closest associate of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, Mikhail Klavdievich Tikhonravov, wrote: “Without exception, all work in the field of rocket technology eventually leads to space flight.” Subsequent events confirmed his words: in 1946, almost simultaneously with the development of the first Soviet and American ballistic missiles, the development of the idea of launching an artificial Earth satellite began.

The times were difficult and troubling. Barely finished the second World War, and the world was already teetering on the brink of a new one, this time nuclear. Appeared atomic bomb, and delivery vehicles were hastily developed - first of all, combat missile systems.

On May 13, 1946, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a detailed Decree on issues of jet weapons, the creation of which was declared the most important state task. They were ordered to create a special committee on jet technology and dozens of new enterprises - research institutes, design bureaus; factories were redesigned for the production of new equipment, testing grounds were created. On the basis of Artillery Plant No. 88, the State Allied Research Institute (NII-88) was created, which became the lead organization for the entire range of work in this area. On August 9 of the same year, by order of the Minister of Defense, Korolev was appointed chief designer of long-range ballistic missiles, and on August 30 he became head of the ballistic missile department of SKB NII-88. On September 17, flight and design tests of the "product number 1" - the R-1 rocket began.

Sergei Pavlovich Korolev at the training ground in Kapustin Yar. 1953 Photo courtesy of Asif Siddiqi

It is known that such support is provided only under the mandatory condition that the Decision Makers consider the supported projects to be realistically feasible and urgently needed. But high-ranking leaders, both Soviet and American, turned out to be completely like-minded on the issue of launching a satellite: they not only saw no need for this, but also considered the very idea fantastic and harmful, diverting forces and means from the development of combat missiles. It is surprising that, despite the fundamental differences in the domestic political, technical, economic, social and cultural situation, many character traits The development of the cosmic idea “for us and for them” turned out to be similar, and even the chronology of key events approximately coincides.

At the first stage (until 1954), the development of the idea of launching a satellite was carried out in conditions of misunderstanding and opposition from top leaders and those who determined technical policy states. In our country, the main ideologist and leader practical work for the implementation of the exit to space was Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (1907-1966), in the USA - Wernher von Braun (Wernher von Braun, 1912-1977).

On May 12, 1946, the von Braun group submitted to the US Department of Defense a report "Preliminary design of an experimental spaceship orbiting the Earth”, which stated that a rocket to launch a satellite weighing 227 kg into a circular orbit about 480 km high could be created in five years, that is, by 1951. The military department refused to allocate the necessary appropriations to von Braun's proposal.

In the USSR, Mikhail Klavdievich Tikhonravov (1900–1974), who worked at the NII-1 MAP, proposed a project for a high-altitude rocket VR-190 with a pressurized cabin with two pilots on board to fly along a ballistic trajectory with an ascent to a height of 200 km. The project was reported to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Board of the Ministry of Aviation Industry and received a positive assessment. On May 21, 1946, Tikhonravov sent a letter to Stalin, and this was the point.

After moving to the NII-4 of the Ministry of Defense, Tikhonravov and his group of seven people continued to work on the scientific substantiation of the possibility of launching an artificial Earth satellite. On March 15, 1950, he reported the results of the research work "Compound long-range liquid fuel rockets, artificial satellites of the Earth" at the plenary session of the scientific and technical conference of the Department of Applied Mechanics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. His report was approved, nevertheless, Tikhonravov continually received "bruises and bumps" from his superiors, and ridicule in the form of cartoons and epigrams from his fellow scientists. In accordance with the “spirit of the times” (at the very beginning of the 1950s), a “signal to the top” was even sent - they say that state funds are being wasted, and we need to see if this is sabotage? The inspectorate of the Ministry of Defense, which checked NII-4, recognized the work of Tikhonravov's group as unnecessary, and the idea as fantastic and harmful. The group was disbanded, and Tikhonravov was demoted.

Tikhonravov's group developed the concept of an artificial Earth satellite from 1950 to 1954 almost "underground". In the foreground (left to right): Vladimir Galkovsky, Gleb Maksimov, Lidia Soldatova, Mikhail Tikhonravov and Igor Yatsunsky; in the background (standing): Grigory Moskalenko, Oleg Gurko and Igor Bazhinov. Photo courtesy of Asif Siddiqi

Both Korolev and Brown, each in their own country, did not abandon their efforts to achieve understanding of the Decision Makers, putting forward arguments available to these Persons of the military and political importance of developing and launching satellites.

President of the USSR Academy of Sciences Mstislav Keldysh most actively supported the idea of launching an artificial satellite. Beginning in 1949, academic institutions conducted research into the upper atmosphere and near-Earth space, as well as the reactions of living organisms in rocket flights. Rockets for scientific research were developed on the basis of combat missiles, they were called "academic". The first geophysical rocket was the R1-A rocket, developed on the basis of the R-1 combat rocket.

In October 1954, the organizing committee of the International Geophysical Year turned to the leading world powers with a request to consider the possibility of launching satellites for scientific research. On June 29, US President Dwight Eisenhower (Dwight David Eisenhower, 1890–1969) announced that the US would launch such a satellite. Soon the Soviet Union made the same statement. This meant that the work on creating an artificial satellite of the Earth was legalized, and there was no room left for ridicule and denial of the idea.

On June 26, 1954, Korolev submitted to the Minister of Defense Industry Dmitry Ustinov a memorandum "On an artificial satellite of the Earth", prepared by Tikhonravov, with an overview of work on satellites abroad. The note said: “At present, there are real technical possibilities to achieve with the help of rockets a speed sufficient to create an artificial satellite of the Earth. The most realistic and feasible in the shortest possible time is the creation of an artificial satellite of the Earth in the form of an automatic device that would be equipped with scientific equipment, have radio communication with the Earth and revolve around the Earth at a distance of about 170–1100 km from its surface. Such a device will be called the simplest satellite.

The PS-1 satellite was arranged quite simply: it had almost nothing inside, except for a radio station that sends signals to the Earth, and power sources. Photo: NASA

In the United States, on May 26, 1955, at a meeting of the National Security Council (National Security Council), a program was approved to launch a scientific satellite - provided that it does not interfere with the development of combat missiles. The fact that the launch will take place within the framework of the International Geophysical Year will emphasize its peaceful nature, the military believed. Unlike our country, where everything was "in the same hands" - Korolev and Tikhonravova - these works were carried out by all branches of the armed forces, and it was necessary to decide which project to give preference to. For this, a special commission was created. The final choice was between the Naval Research Laboratory project (Vanguard satellite) and the Rand Corporation project (Explorer satellite, developed under the direction of Wernher von Braun). Brown stated that, given sufficient funds, the satellite could be launched into orbit in January 1956. Perhaps, if he had been believed, the United States would have launched its satellite earlier than the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, the choice was made in favor of the "Vanguard" ("Vanguard"). Apparently, von Braun's personality played a role here: the Americans did not want a German with a recent Nazi past to become the "father" of the first American satellite. But, as shown further development events, their choice was not very successful.

1955 In the USSR, the R-7 ICBM is being developed. Tikhonravov's group is actively working on the problems associated with the creation of satellites. On January 30, 1956, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopts a resolution on the development of object D (a satellite weighing 1000–1400 kg and with scientific equipment for 200–300 kg). The launch date is 1957. The draft design is ready by June. A ground-based command and measurement complex (CMC) is being developed to ensure the flight of the satellite.

By the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of September 3, 1956, it was ordered to organize seven ground measuring points (NIP) on the territory of our country along the flight path. The task was entrusted to the Ministry of Defense, NII-4 was identified as the head organization.

On February 7, 1957, the Council of Ministers of the USSR issued a resolution on the launch of the First AES, and on October 4, the launch was successfully carried out. The device was put into orbit with perigee 228 and apogee 947 km. The time of one revolution was 96.2 minutes. The satellite was in orbit for 92 days (until January 4, 1958), making 1440 revolutions.

According to the factory documentation, the satellite was called PS-1, that is, the simplest satellite. However, the design and scientific and technical problems that the developers faced were by no means simple. In fact, it was a test of the possibility of launching a satellite, which ended, as Academician Boris Evseevich Chertok, one of Korolev's closest associates, put it, with the triumph of the launch vehicle.

A thermal control system, power supplies, two radio transmitters were installed on board the satellite, operating at different frequencies and sending signals in the form of telegraph parcels (the famous “beep-beep-beep”). In the orbital flight, studies were carried out on the density of the high layers of the atmosphere, the nature of the propagation of radio waves in the ionosphere, and the issues of observing a space object from the Earth were worked out.

The first official photograph of a Soviet satellite was taken on October 17 by the Southern California Observatory Telescope. The fact that this is a satellite could be understood by its movement relative to two stars in the constellation Auriga. Photo: Smithsonian Astronphysical Observatory/NASA

The reaction of the world community to this event was very stormy. There were no indifferent people. Millions and millions ordinary people The planets perceived this event as the greatest achievement of human thought and spirit. Satellite transit time over various settlements it was announced in advance in the press, and people on different continents came out of their homes at night, looked at the sky and saw: among the usual fixed stars, one is moving!

In the United States, the launch of the first satellite was a real shock. It suddenly turned out that the USSR, a country that had not yet really recovered from the war, had a powerful scientific, industrial and military potential, and that it must be reckoned with. The prestige of the United States as a world leader in the scientific, technical and military fields has been shaken. This caused bewilderment and fear: in the sky above your head, someone else's apparatus flies freely and with impunity! And there is no longer a sense of security and consciousness of one's own superiority. This was a shock not only for the US leadership, but also for millions of ordinary Americans. The depth of the shock is testified by the words of a senior political figure: "I don't believe this generation of Americans is willing to accept the idea of having to fall asleep every night by the light of a Communist moon."

At this stage, the "space race" began: in open letter to President Eisenhower, the editor of Jane's Missiles & Rockets, Erik Bergaust, wrote: “We must be the first in space research ... We must work feverishly to solve those technical problems that Russia has undoubtedly solved ... In this race ( and this is undoubtedly a race) the prize will be given only to the winner, this prize is the leadership of the world ... ".

On November 3 of the same 1957, the second satellite weighing 508.3 kg was launched. It was already a real scientific laboratory. For the first time, a highly organized Living being- Dog Laika.

The Americans had to hurry: a week after the launch of the second Soviet satellite, on November 11, the White House announced the upcoming launch of the first US satellite. The launch took place on December 6 and ended in complete failure: two seconds after leaving the launch pad, the rocket fell and exploded, destroying the launch pad. In the future, the Avangard program went very hard, out of eleven launches, only three were successful. Von Braun's Explorer was the first American artificial satellite. It was launched on January 31, 1958.

The American satellite Avangard-2 was launched on June 26, 1958. Photo: NASA

The total weight of the satellite with the unseparated third stage was 14 kg, the weight of the scientific equipment was 5 kg. Studies of cosmic rays and the level of radiation outside the atmosphere, the flux density of meteor microparticles, etc. were carried out. Radiation belts around the Earth were discovered, which were named Van Allen belts in honor of the American physicist, under whose leadership scientific equipment was developed. This was the first discovery in the history of space exploration, it became a scientific sensation.

The first successful launch of the Avangard took place on March 17, 1958. The satellite was a sphere with a diameter of 16 cm and a weight of 1.5 kg, which is why it was nicknamed "orange". For the first time, solar panels were installed on board, which continued to work as early as 1959, and radio transmitters.

The pioneers of practical astronautics, the creators of the first artificial satellites of the Earth, were able to look far ahead. But even in those years they would hardly have been able to imagine that their small and simple devices in modern terms would give rise to the formation of a grandiose system. Over the past 50 years, more than one thousand spacecraft have been launched into near-Earth orbits. Their orbits encircle the Earth in a dense grid, they "see" everything that happens on Earth. Collectively, they constitute a gigantic information system.

Astronautics plays a colossal, if not paramount, role in ensuring the life of the human community. These are communications, television, navigation, meteorology, research natural resources Lands, monitoring earth's surface and much more. If all of a sudden the systems that serve the needs of the earth somehow disappeared, the Earth would be in chaos.

A Russian word"satellite", which flew around the world 50 years ago and became known to everyone, has now become a word more from a general cultural than from a technical lexicon.

HERE

Today, these satellites seem ridiculously simple - the Soviet Sputniks 1 and 2 and the American Explorer and Avangard. Now students are making more complex spacecraft. But at one time, putting into orbit around the Earth the creations of human hands was a huge achievement and made an indelible impression on contemporaries. In 1957-1958, during the period of maximum solar activity The International Geophysical Year was held. As part of the IGY, the Soviet satellites Sputnik-1, Sputnik-2 and Sputnik-3, as well as the American satellites Explorer-1, Avangard-1, Explorer- 3" and "Explorer-4".
Sputnik-1 - the first artificial Earth satellite, first spacecraft, was launched into orbit in the USSR on October 4, 1957. The code designation of the satellite is PS-1 (The Simplest Sputnik-1). The launch was carried out from the 5th Tyura-Tam research site of the USSR Ministry of Defense (which later received the open name of the Baikonur Cosmodrome) on a Sputnik launch vehicle (R-7).

The body of the satellite consisted of two hemispheres with a diameter of 58 cm made of aluminum alloy. The tightness of the joint was provided by a rubber gasket. Two antennas were located in the upper half-shell, each of two pins 2.4 m and 2.9 m each. Since the satellite was not oriented, the four-antenna system gave uniform radiation in all directions.

The world's first artificial earth satellite.

Inside the hermetic housing were placed: a block of electrochemical sources; radio transmitting device; fan; thermal relay and air duct of the thermal control system; switching device of onboard electroautomatics; temperature and pressure sensors; onboard cable network. Weight: 83.6 kg.
On January 30, 1956, the government of the USSR signed a decree on the creation and launch into orbit in 1957-1958. "Object" D "" - a satellite weighing 1000-1400 kg carrying 200-300 kg of scientific equipment. The development of the equipment was entrusted to the USSR Academy of Sciences, the construction of the satellite was assigned to OKB-1, and the launch was entrusted to the Ministry of Defense. By the end of 1956, it became clear that reliable equipment for the satellite could not be created within the required time frame.
On January 14, 1957, the USSR Council of Ministers approved the flight test program for the R-7 rocket. At the same time, Korolev sent a memorandum to the Council of Ministers, where he wrote that in April - June 1957, two rockets in the satellite version could be prepared, "and launched immediately after the first successful launches of an intercontinental missile." In February, construction work at the test site was still ongoing, two missiles were already ready for shipment. Korolev, convinced of the unrealistic timing of the production of the orbital laboratory, sends an unexpected proposal to the government:
There are reports that in connection with the International Geophysical Year, the United States intends to launch satellites in 1958. We risk losing priority. Instead of a complex laboratory - object "D", I propose to launch a simple satellite into space.
On February 15, this proposal was approved.
In early March, the first R-7 rocket was delivered to the technical position of the test site, and on May 5 it was taken to the launch pad. Preparations for the launch lasted a week, on the eighth day refueling began. The launch took place on May 15 at 19:00 local time. The launch went well, but at the 98th second of the flight, one of the side engines failed, after another 5 seconds all the engines automatically turned off and the rocket fell 300 km from the start. The cause of the accident was a fire as a result of depressurization of the high-pressure fuel line. The second rocket, R-7, was prepared taking into account the experience gained, but it was not possible to launch it at all. On June 10-11, repeated launch attempts were made, but in last seconds protective equipment was activated. It turned out that the cause was an incorrect installation of the nitrogen purge valve and freezing of the main oxygen valve. On July 12, the launch of the R-7 rocket again failed, this rocket flew only 7 kilometers. The reason this time was a short circuit to the body in one of the control system instruments, as a result of which a false command was sent to the steering engines, the rocket deviated significantly from the course and was automatically stopped.
Finally, on August 21, 1957, a successful launch was carried out, the rocket normally passed the entire active phase of the flight and reached the specified area - the test site in Kamchatka. The head part of it completely burned out when entering the dense layers of the atmosphere, despite this, on August 27, TASS announced the creation of an intercontinental ballistic missile in the USSR. On September 7, the second completely successful flight of the rocket was carried out, but the head part again could not withstand the temperature load, and Korolev came to grips with preparing for a space launch.
As B.E. Chertok wrote, according to the results of flight tests of five missiles, it was obvious that it could fly, but the warhead required radical improvement. This will require, according to optimists, at least six months. The destruction of the warheads opened the way for the launch of the First Simplest Sputnik.
S. P. Korolev received the consent of N. S. Khrushchev to use two rockets for the experimental launch of the simplest satellite.

The first version of the R-7, tested in 1957.

The design of the simplest satellite began in November 1956, and in early September 1957, PS-1 passed the final tests on a vibration stand and in a heat chamber. The satellite was designed as a very simple device with two radio beacons for trajectory measurements. The range of the transmitters of the simplest satellite was chosen so that radio amateurs could track the satellite.
On September 22, a new R-7 missile arrived at Tyura-Tam. Compared to military models, it was significantly lightened: the massive warhead was replaced by a transition to the satellite, the equipment of the radio control system and one of the telemetry systems were removed, and the automatic shutdown of the engines was simplified; as a result, the mass of the rocket was reduced by 7 tons.
On October 2, Korolev signed an order for flight tests of the PS-1 and sent a notification of readiness to Moscow. No response instructions came, and Korolev independently decided to place the rocket with the satellite at the starting position.
On Friday, October 4, at 22 hours 28 minutes 34 seconds Moscow time (19 hours 28 minutes 34 seconds GMT), a successful launch was made. 295 seconds after the launch, PS-1 and the central block of the rocket weighing 7.5 tons were launched into an elliptical orbit with an altitude of 947 km at apogee and 288 km at perigee. At 314.5 seconds after the launch, Sputnik separated and he gave his vote. "Beep! Beep! - so sounded his call signs. They were caught at the training ground for 2 minutes, then the Sputnik went beyond the horizon. People at the cosmodrome ran out into the street, shouting "Hurrah!", rocked the designers and the military. And even on the first orbit, a TASS message sounded: "... As a result of the great hard work of research institutes and design bureaus, the world's first artificial satellite of the Earth was created ..."
Only after receiving the first signals of the Sputnik did the results of telemetry data processing arrive and it turned out that only a fraction of a second separated from failure. One of the engines was “late”, and the time to enter the regime is tightly controlled and if it is exceeded, the start is automatically canceled. The block entered the mode less than a second before the control time. At the 16th second of the flight, the fuel supply control system failed, and due to the increased consumption of kerosene, the central engine turned off 1 second ahead of the estimated time.
"A little more - and the first cosmic speed could not be reached.
But the winners are not judged!
The great has happened!" (B.E. Chertok).
The satellite flew for 92 days, until January 4, 1958, making 1440 revolutions around the Earth (about 60 million km), and its radio transmitters worked for two weeks after launch. Due to friction against the upper layers of the atmosphere, the satellite lost speed, entered the dense layers of the atmosphere and burned out due to friction against the air.
Boris Evseevich Chertok wrote: “The generally accepted idea at that time that without special optics, visually, we observe a satellite illuminated by the sun at night is incorrect. The reflecting surface of the satellite was too small for visual observation. In fact, the second stage was observed - the central block of the rocket, which went into the same orbit as the satellite. This mistake was repeated many times in the media"

Despite the fact that there was no scientific equipment on the satellite, the study of the nature of the radio signal and optical observations of the orbit made it possible to obtain important scientific data. atoms/cm³) was a big surprise for geophysicists. The results of measuring the density of high layers of the atmosphere made it possible to create a theory of satellite deceleration.

Sputnik-2 - the second spacecraft, launched into Earth orbit on November 3, 1957, for the first time launched into space a living creature - the dog Laika. Officially, the satellite was launched as part of the International Geophysical Year. Sputnik-2 was a conical capsule 4 meters high, with a base diameter of 2 meters, it contained several compartments for scientific equipment, a radio transmitter, a telemetry system, a software module, a regeneration and cabin temperature control system. Dog Laika was housed in a separate sealed compartment. Food and water were given to the dog in the form of jelly. The fan for cooling the dog started working at temperatures above 15 °C. There were no TV cameras installed on Sputnik 2 (TV images of dogs on Sputnik 5 are often mistaken for images of Laika).

Dog Laika.

Khrushchev, assessing the political success of the launch of Sputnik-1, demanded that OKB-1 by the 40th anniversary October revolution launch another satellite. Thus, very little time was allocated for the development of a new satellite, and it was not possible to improve the existing life support systems in such a short time. Therefore, the experiment with Laika turned out to be very short: due to the large area, the container quickly overheated, and the dog died already on the first turns. But in any case, the sources of electricity to power the life support system lasted a maximum of six days and technologies for safe descent from orbit were not developed.
After 5-7 hours of flight, physiological data were no longer transmitted, and starting from the fourth orbit, no data on the condition of the dog could be obtained. Later studies showed that Laika probably died of overheating after 5-7 hours of flight. But this was enough to prove that a living organism can withstand a long stay in weightlessness.

"Explorer-1" (Researcher) - the first American artificial Earth satellite, launched on February 1, 1958 by the team of Wernher von Braun. The Explorer 1 satellite ceased radio transmissions on February 28, 1958, and remained in orbit until March 1970.
This launch was preceded by an unsuccessful attempt by the US Navy to launch the Avangard-1 satellite, which was widely publicized in connection with the program of the International Geophysical Year.
Von Braun, for political reasons, was not given permission to launch the first American satellite for a long time, so preparations for the launch of the Explorer began in earnest only after the Avangard accident.

Wernher von Braun (second from right) at the full-scale Explorer layout with the last stage of the launch vehicle.

For launch, a boosted version of the Redstone ballistic missile, called the Jupiter-S, was created, originally intended to test smaller mock-up warheads. It is a direct development of the German V-2 rocket.
To achieve orbital speed, a bunch of 15 Sergeant solid rockets were used, which were, in fact, unguided rockets with about 20 kg of solid fuel each; 11 rockets made up the second stage, 3 - the third, and the last - the fourth. The engines of the second and third stages were mounted in two cylinders inserted into each other, and the fourth was installed on top. All this bunch was untwisted by an electric motor before the start. This allowed her to maintain a predetermined position of the longitudinal axis during the operation of the engines. Jupiter-S did not have a fourth stage, the rocket converted to launch the satellite was retroactively named Juno-1.
The spent engines of the 2nd and 3rd stages were sequentially dropped, but the satellite did not separate from the 4th stage. Therefore, in various sources, the masses of the satellite are given, both with and without taking into account the empty mass of the last stage. Without taking into account this stage, the mass of the satellite was exactly 10 times less than the mass of the first Soviet satellite - 8.3 kg, of which the mass of the equipment was 4.5 kg. However, it included a Geiger counter and a meteor particle sensor.
The Explorer's orbit was noticeably higher than the orbit of the first satellite, and if at perigee the Geiger counter showed the expected cosmic radiation, which was already known from high-altitude rocket launches, then at apogee it did not give a signal at all. James Van Allen suggested that at apogee the meter saturates due to an uncalculably high level of radiation. He calculated that solar wind protons with energies of 1-3 MeV, captured by magnetic field Earth in a kind of trap. More recent data have confirmed this hypothesis, and the radiation belts around the Earth are called van Allen belts.

Avangard-1 is a satellite launched in the USA March 17, 1958 under the program of the International Geophysical Year. The satellite had a mass of 1474 grams at launch, which was significantly less than the mass of Soviet satellites and even the Explorer-1 satellite (8.3 kg), which had already been launched a month and a half earlier. Although it was planned that Avangard would fly as early as 1957, the failure of the rocket (Vanguard TV3) at the time of the launch attempt violated these plans, and the satellite became the second American apparatus in space. But a sufficiently high orbit provided him with a much longer life. It is still in orbit, 50 years after launch. It is the oldest man-made object in near-Earth space.

The satellite is spherical with 6 antenna rods. The diameter of the spherical shell is 16.3 cm, the satellite equipment was powered by mercury-zinc batteries, in addition, a low-power transmitter received energy from solar batteries.

Vanguard-1.

The difficult fate of this satellite was associated with the rivalry between the missile programs of the Air Force, Navy and US Army, each of the military branches sought to develop its own missile, the Avangard program belonged to the fleet, the Explorer program to the army. The Avangard rocket, unlike the Jupiter-S that launched the Explorer, was specifically designed as a rocket for launching satellites. It weighed only 10 tons and remains the smallest of the liquid-propellant launch vehicles. The design of the rocket was very controversial, the first stage used kerosene and liquid oxygen, the second - nitric acid and UDMH. In addition, the rocket was fueled with liquid propane (used to run the second stage engine and for orientation) and concentrated hydrogen peroxide (for the first stage fuel turbopump). Such a "mess" was due to the desire to reduce financial and time costs and to make the most of the already available hardware of the Viking and Aerobi geophysical rockets. The rocket was not very reliable, less than half of the launches were successful.
In addition to Avangard-1, Avangard-2 and Avangard-3 were launched into orbit, they were noticeably larger and heavier than the "ancestor", although they remained, according to modern classification, microsatellites weighing 10-20 kg. Avangard-1 should be classified as a nanosatellite.
Despite the neglect of the "grapefruit" (even in the US), he helped make some pretty serious discoveries, including clarifying the shape of the Earth.
"Explorer-3"- American artificial Earth satellite, launched on March 26, 1958 by the team of Wernher von Braun. It is similar in design and tasks to the first American satellite "Explorer-1". The second successful launch within the framework of the Explorer program. As a result of the flight of Explorer-3, the existence of the Earth's radiation belt, discovered by James Van Allen, was confirmed.

Sputnik-3 (object D)- Soviet artificial satellite of the Earth, launched on May 15, 1958 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome as a light modification of the intercontinental ballistic missile R-7, called Sputnik-3.
The first launch on April 27, 1958 ended in a launch vehicle failure. The satellite was called Object D by the serial number of the payload type. Objects A, B, C, D were different types nuclear warheads.
Sputnik-3 was the first full-fledged spacecraft with all the systems inherent in modern spacecraft. Having the shape of a cone with a base diameter of 1.73 meters and a height of 3.75 meters, the satellite weighed 1327 kilograms. The satellite carried 12 scientific instruments. The sequence of their work was set by the time program device. For the first time, it was supposed to use an onboard tape recorder to record telemetry in those parts of the orbit that were not available to ground tracking stations. Immediately before the launch, its malfunction was discovered, and the satellite went into flight with a non-working tape recorder.

Satellite - 3.

For the first time, onboard equipment received and executed commands transmitted from Earth. For the first time, an active thermal management system was used to maintain operating temperatures. Electricity was provided by disposable chemical sources, in addition to which, for the first time in the USSR, solar batteries were used for experimental verification, from which a small radio beacon operated. His work continued even after the main batteries had exhausted their resource on June 3, 1958. The satellite flew until April 6, 1960.
Taking into account the experience of launching the third satellite, 4, 5 and 6 satellites, including a satellite with the OD index, were preparing for flight at the Korolev Design Bureau. An orientable apparatus that did not tumble in orbit, but was always aligned relative to the tangent to the orbit and could return the capsule to the ground. But the strong loading of the design bureau with military topics and the redirection of the space program to the exploration of the moon did not allow the continuation of work on these devices. These ideas were implemented in the Vostok spacecraft and the Zenith satellite.

Vanguard-2 - American weather satellite, designed to measure daytime cloudiness, and launched on February 17, 1959 using the Avangard SLV 4 launch vehicle. Avangard-2 became the world's first meteorological satellite launched into orbit, but its weather data turned out to be useless.
Launches of satellites like Vanguard-2 began earlier: on May 28, 1958, Vanguard 2B was launched; on June 26, 1958, Vanguard 2C; on September 26, 1958, Vanguard 2D; however, due to launcher failures, these satellites did not reach orbit.
The Avangard-2 satellite is a spherical body 50.8 cm in diameter, with several whip antennas.
Two telescopes, two photocells, two radio transmitters (1 W with a 108.03 MHz carrier for telemetry; 10 mW with a 108 MHz carrier for a beacon), a battery of galvanic cells, a command radio receiver for controlling a strip chart recorder, and related electronics were installed on board. .

The world's first weather satellite.

Telemetry transmitters worked for 19 days, but the data from the satellite was unsatisfactory due to the fact that the satellite, having unsuccessfully separated from the third stage, began to rotate at a high angular velocity.
Satellite mass: 10.2 kg.
Vanguard-3, or Vanguard SLV-7- American satellite for the study of near-Earth space. The last satellite launched under the Avangard program. During the launch on September 18, 1959, the spacecraft could not separate from the third stage of the launch vehicle. The satellite transmitted data for 84 days, until December 11, 1959. According to calculations, Vanguard-3 will exist in orbit for about three hundred years.

Launch of the Avangard-3 satellite.
"Explorer-4"- American artificial Earth satellite (AES), launched on July 26, 1958. The satellite was intended to study the radiation belts of the Earth and the influence nuclear explosions on these belts.

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In 1957, under the leadership of S.P. Korolev, the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile R-7 was created, which in the same year was used to launch the world's first artificial earth satellite.

artificial earth satellite (satellite) is a spacecraft revolving around the Earth in a geocentric orbit. - the trajectory of the movement of a celestial body along an elliptical trajectory around the Earth. One of the two foci of the ellipse along which the celestial body moves coincides with the Earth. In order for the spacecraft to be in this orbit, it needs to be informed of a speed that is less than the second space velocity, but not less than the first space velocity. AES flights are carried out at altitudes up to several hundred thousand kilometers. The lower limit of the satellite flight altitude is determined by the need to avoid the process of rapid deceleration in the atmosphere. The orbital period of a satellite, depending on the average flight altitude, can range from one and a half hours to several days.

Of particular importance are satellites in geostationary orbit, the period of revolution of which is strictly equal to a day, and therefore, for a ground observer, they “hang” motionlessly in the sky, which makes it possible to get rid of rotary devices in antennas. geostationary orbit(GSO) - a circular orbit located above the Earth's equator (0 ° latitude), in which an artificial satellite revolves around the planet with an angular velocity equal to the angular velocity of the Earth's rotation around its axis. Movement of an artificial Earth satellite in geostationary orbit.

Sputnik-1- the first artificial satellite of the Earth, the first spacecraft, launched into orbit in the USSR on October 4, 1957.

Satellite code - PS-1(The simplest Sputnik-1). The launch was carried out from the 5th Tyura-Tam research site of the USSR Ministry of Defense (later this place was called the Baikonur Cosmodrome) on a Sputnik launch vehicle (R-7).

Scientists M. V. Keldysh, M. K. Tikhonravov, N. S. Lidorenko, V. I. Lapko, B. S. Chekunov, A. V. Bukhtiyarov and many others.

The date of the launch of the first artificial satellite of the Earth is considered the beginning of the space age of mankind, and in Russia it is celebrated as a memorable day for the Space Forces.

The body of the satellite consisted of two hemispheres with a diameter of 58 cm made of aluminum alloy with docking frames interconnected by 36 bolts. The tightness of the joint was provided by a rubber gasket. Two antennas were located in the upper half-shell, each of two pins 2.4 m and 2.9 m each. Since the satellite was not oriented, the four-antenna system gave uniform radiation in all directions.

A block of electrochemical sources was placed inside the hermetic case; radio transmitting device; fan; thermal relay and air duct of the thermal control system; switching device of onboard electroautomatics; temperature and pressure sensors; onboard cable network. Mass of the first satellite: 83.6 kg.

The history of the creation of the first satellite

On May 13, 1946, Stalin signed a decree on the creation in the USSR of the rocket branch of science and industry. In August S. P. Korolev was appointed chief designer of long-range ballistic missiles.

But back in 1931, the USSR established a Study Group jet propulsion, which was engaged in the design of rockets. This group worked Zander, Tikhonravov, Pobedonostsev, Korolev. In 1933, on the basis of this group, the Jet Institute was organized, which continued work on the creation and improvement of rockets.

In 1947, V-2 rockets were assembled and tested in Germany, and they laid the foundation for Soviet work for the development of rocket technology. However, the V-2 embodied in its design the ideas of lone geniuses Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Hermann Oberth, Robert Goddard.

In 1948, the R-1 rocket, which was a copy of the V-2, manufactured entirely in the USSR, was already being tested at the Kapustin Yar test site. Then the R-2 appeared with a flight range of up to 600 km, these missiles were put into service since 1951. And the creation of the R-5 missile with a range of up to 1200 km was the first separation from the V-2 technology. These missiles were tested in 1953, and immediately began research into their use as a carrier of nuclear weapons. On May 20, 1954, the government issued a decree on the development of a two-stage intercontinental rocket R-7. And already on May 27, Korolev sent a memorandum to the Minister of Defense Industry D.F. Ustinov on the development of artificial satellites and the possibility of launching it using the future R-7 rocket.

Launch!

On Friday, October 4, at 22 hours 28 minutes 34 seconds Moscow time, successful launch. 295 seconds after the launch, PS-1 and the central block of the rocket weighing 7.5 tons were launched into an elliptical orbit with an altitude of 947 km at apogee and 288 km at perigee. At 314.5 seconds after the launch, Sputnik separated and he gave his vote. "Beep! Beep! - so sounded his call signs. They were caught at the training ground for 2 minutes, then the Sputnik went beyond the horizon. People at the cosmodrome ran out into the street, shouting "Hurrah!", rocked the designers and the military. And even on the first orbit, a TASS message sounded: "... As a result of the great hard work of research institutes and design bureaus, the world's first artificial satellite of the Earth was created ..."

Only after receiving the first signals of the Sputnik did the results of telemetry data processing arrive and it turned out that only a fraction of a second separated from failure. One of the engines was “late”, and the time to enter the regime is tightly controlled and if it is exceeded, the start is automatically canceled. The block went into mode less than a second before the control time. At the 16th second of the flight, the fuel supply control system failed, and due to the increased consumption of kerosene, the central engine turned off 1 second ahead of the estimated time. But the winners are not judged! The satellite flew for 92 days, until January 4, 1958, making 1440 revolutions around the Earth (about 60 million km), and its radio transmitters worked for two weeks after launch. Due to friction against the upper layers of the atmosphere, the satellite lost speed, entered the dense layers of the atmosphere and burned out due to friction against the air.

Officially, Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2 were launched by the Soviet Union in accordance with the obligations assumed for the International Geophysical Year. The satellite emitted radio waves at two frequencies of 20.005 and 40.002 MHz in the form of telegraph packets with a duration of 0.3 s, this made it possible to study the upper layers of the ionosphere - before the launch of the first satellite, it was possible to observe only the reflection of radio waves from the regions of the ionosphere lying below the zone of maximum ionization of the ionospheric layers.

Launch goals

verification of calculations and main technical solutions adopted for the launch;
ionospheric studies of the passage of radio waves emitted by satellite transmitters;
experimental determination of the density of the upper atmosphere by the deceleration of the satellite;
study of the operating conditions of the equipment.

Despite the fact that the satellite was completely absent of any scientific equipment, the study of the nature of the radio signal and optical observations of the orbit made it possible to obtain important scientific data.

Other satellites

The second country to launch a satellite was the United States: on February 1, 1958, an artificial earth satellite was launched Explorer-1. It was in orbit until March 1970, but stopped broadcasting as early as February 28, 1958. The first American artificial earth satellite was launched by Brown's team.

Werner Magnus Maximilian von Braun- German, and since the late 1940s, an American designer of rocket and space technology, one of the founders of modern rocket science, the creator of the first ballistic missiles. In the US, he is considered the "father" of the American space program. Von Braun, for political reasons, was not given permission to launch the first American satellite for a long time (the US leadership wanted the satellite to be launched by the military), so preparations for the launch of the Explorer began in earnest only after the Avangard accident. For launch, a boosted version of the Redstone ballistic missile, called the Jupiter-S, was created. The mass of the satellite was exactly 10 times less than the mass of the first Soviet satellite - 8.3 kg. It was equipped with a Geiger counter and a meteor particle sensor. The Explorer's orbit was noticeably higher than the orbit of the first satellite..

The following countries that launched satellites - Great Britain, Canada, Italy - launched their first satellites in 1962, 1962, 1964 . in American launch vehicles. And the third country that launched the first satellite on its launch vehicle was France November 26, 1965

Now satellites are being launched more than 40 countries (as well as individual companies) with the help of both their own launch vehicles (LV) and those provided as launch services by other countries and interstate and private organizations.

Sputnik (Sputnik-1) is the first artificial satellite of the Earth, a Soviet spacecraft launched into orbit on October 4, 1957. The code designation of the satellite is PS-1 (The Simplest Sputnik-1). The launch was carried out from the 5th Tyura-Tam research site of the USSR Ministry of Defense (which later received the open name of the Baikonur cosmodrome) on a Sputnik launch vehicle, created on the basis of the R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile.

Scientists M. V. Keldysh, M. K. Tikhonravov, N. S. Lidorenko, G. Yu. Maksimov, V. I. Lapko, B. S. Chekunov, A. V. Bukhtiyarov and many others.

The launch date is considered the beginning of the space age of mankind, and in Russia it is celebrated as a memorable day for the Space Forces.

The history of the creation of the first satellite of the Earth

Back in 1939, Mikhail Klavdievich Tikhonravov, one of the founders of practical cosmonautics in the USSR, the closest associate of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, wrote: “Without exception, all work in the field of rocket technology eventually leads to space flight.” Subsequent events confirmed his words: in 1946, almost simultaneously with the development of the first Soviet and American ballistic missiles, the development of the idea of launching an artificial Earth satellite began. The times were hard. The Second World War had barely ended, and the world was already teetering on the brink of a new one, this time nuclear. The atomic bomb appeared, and means of delivery were hastily developed - first of all, combat missile systems. On May 13, 1946, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a detailed Decree on issues of jet weapons, the creation of which was declared the most important state task. They were ordered to create a special committee on jet technology and dozens of new enterprises - research institutes, design bureaus; factories were redesigned for the production of new equipment, testing grounds were created. On the basis of Artillery Plant No. 88, the State Allied Research Institute (NII-88) was created, which became the lead organization for the entire range of work in this area. On August 9 of the same year, by order of the Minister of Defense, Korolev was appointed chief designer of long-range ballistic missiles, and on August 30 he became head of the department for ballistic missile design tests of "product No. 1" - R-1 missiles.

It was in this context that the creation of an artificial satellite of the Earth began, for which it was necessary to attract huge financial, material and human resources. In other words, government support was required. At the first stage (until 1954), the development of the idea of launching a satellite was carried out in conditions of misunderstanding and opposition from top leaders and those who determined the technical policy of states. In our country, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was the main ideologist and leader of the practical work on the implementation of access to outer space, in the USA - Wernher von Braun.

On May 12, 1946, the von Braun group submitted to the US Department of Defense a report "Preliminary design of an experimental spacecraft orbiting the Earth", which stated that a rocket for launching a satellite weighing 227 kg into a circular orbit with an altitude of about 480 km could be created in five years, that is, by 1951. The military department refused to allocate the necessary appropriations to von Braun's proposal.

In the USSR, Mikhail Klavdievich Tikhonravov, who worked at the NII-1 MAP, proposed a project for a high-altitude rocket VR-190 with a pressurized cabin with two pilots on board for flying along a ballistic trajectory with an ascent to a height of 200 km. The project was reported to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Board of the Ministry of Aviation Industry and received a positive assessment. On May 21, 1946, Tikhonravov sent a letter to Stalin, and this was the point. After moving to the NII-4 of the Ministry of Defense, Tikhonravov and his group of seven people continued to work on the scientific substantiation of the possibility of launching an artificial Earth satellite. On March 15, 1950, he reported the results of the research work "Compound long-range liquid fuel rockets, artificial satellites of the Earth" at the plenary session of the scientific and technical conference of the Department of Applied Mechanics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. His report was approved, nevertheless, Tikhonravov continually received "bruises and bumps" from his superiors, and ridicule in the form of cartoons and epigrams from his fellow scientists. In accordance with the “spirit of the times” (at the very beginning of the 1950s), a “signal to the top” was even sent - they say that state funds are being wasted, and we need to see if this is sabotage? The inspectorate of the Ministry of Defense, which checked NII-4, recognized the work of Tikhonravov's group as unnecessary, and the idea as fantastic and harmful. The group was disbanded, and Tikhonravov was demoted.

Meanwhile, work continued: in 1950-1953, research was carried out behind the scenes, almost secretly, and in 1954 their results were made public. And after that, the idea was able to "come out of the underground." This, however, was facilitated by some additional circumstances. Both Korolev and Brown, each in their own country, did not abandon their efforts to gain understanding of the decision makers, putting forward accessible arguments of the military and political importance of developing and launching satellites. President of the USSR Academy of Sciences Mstislav Keldysh most actively supported the idea of launching an artificial satellite. Beginning in 1949, academic institutions conducted research into the upper atmosphere and near-Earth space, as well as the reactions of living organisms in rocket flights. Rockets for scientific research were developed on the basis of combat missiles, they were called "academic". The first geophysical rocket was the R1-A rocket, developed on the basis of the R-1 combat rocket. In October 1954, the organizing committee of the International Geophysical Year turned to the leading world powers with a request to consider the possibility of launching satellites for scientific research. On June 29, US President Dwight Eisenhower announced that the US would launch such a satellite. Soon the Soviet Union made the same statement. This meant that the work on creating an artificial satellite of the Earth was legalized, and there was no room left for ridicule and denial of the idea.

In the United States, on May 26, 1955, at a meeting of the National Security Council, a program for launching a scientific satellite was approved - provided that it does not interfere with the development of combat missiles. The fact that the launch will take place within the framework of the International Geophysical Year will emphasize its peaceful nature, the military believed. Unlike our country, where everything was "in the same hands" - Korolev and Tikhonravova - these works were carried out by all branches of the armed forces, and it was necessary to decide which project to give preference to. For this, a special commission was created. The final choice was between the Naval Research Laboratory project (Vanguard satellite) and the Rand Corporation project (Explorer satellite, developed under the direction of Wernher von Braun). Brown stated that, given sufficient funds, the satellite could be launched into orbit in January 1956. Perhaps, if he had been believed, the United States would have launched its satellite earlier than the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, the choice was made in favor of the "Vanguard" ("Vanguard"). Apparently, von Braun's personality played a role here: the Americans did not want a German with a recent Nazi past to become the "father" of the first American satellite. But, as the further development of events showed, their choice was not very successful.

In 1955, the USSR was working on the problems associated with the creation of satellites. On January 30, 1956, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopts a resolution on the development of object D (a satellite weighing 1000–1400 kg and with scientific equipment for 200–300 kg). The launch date is 1957. The draft design is ready by June. A ground-based command and measurement complex (CMC) is being developed to ensure the flight of the satellite. By the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of September 3, 1956, it was ordered to organize seven ground measuring points (NIP) on the territory of our country along the flight path. The task was entrusted to the Ministry of Defense, NII-4 was identified as the head organization.

By the end of 1956, it became clear that it would not be possible to prepare object D by the appointed date, and it was decided to urgently develop a small, simple satellite. It was a spherical container with a diameter of 580 mm and a mass of 83.6 kg with four antennas. On February 7, 1957, the Council of Ministers of the USSR issued a resolution on the launch of the First AES, and on October 4, the launch was successfully carried out.

On October 4, 1957, the world's first artificial Earth satellite was launched into near-Earth orbit, which opened the space era in the history of mankind.

The satellite, which became the first artificial celestial body, was launched into orbit by an R-7 carrier rocket from the 5th Research Test Site of the USSR Ministry of Defense, which later received the open name Baikonur Cosmodrome.

According to the calculations, which are now being refined by direct observations, the satellite will move at altitudes up to 900 kilometers above the Earth's surface; the time of one complete revolution of the satellite will be 1 hour 35 minutes, the angle of inclination of the orbit to the plane of the equator is 65 °. Over the area of the city of Moscow on October 5, 1957, the satellite will pass twice - at 1 hour 46 minutes. night and at 6 o'clock. 42 min. morning Moscow time. Messages about the subsequent movement of the first artificial satellite, launched in the USSR on October 4, will be transmitted regularly by broadcast radio stations.

The satellite has the shape of a ball with a diameter of 58 cm and a weight of 83.6 kg. Two radio transmitters are installed on it, continuously emitting radio signals with a frequency of 20.005 and 40.002 megahertz (wavelength about 15 and 7.5 meters, respectively). The power of the transmitters ensures reliable reception of radio signals by a wide range of radio amateurs. The signals have the form of telegraph parcels with a duration of about 0.3 seconds. with a pause of the same duration. A signal of one frequency is sent during a pause of a signal of another frequency ... ".

The device was put into orbit with perigee 228 and apogee 947 km. The time of one revolution was 96.2 minutes. The satellite was in orbit for 92 days (until January 4, 1958), making 1440 revolutions. According to the factory documentation, the satellite was called PS-1, that is, the simplest satellite. However, the design and scientific and technical problems that the developers faced were by no means simple. In fact, it was a test of the possibility of launching a satellite, which ended, as Academician Boris Evseevich Chertok, one of Korolev's closest associates, put it, with the triumph of the launch vehicle. A thermal control system, power supplies, two radio transmitters were installed on board the satellite, operating at different frequencies and sending signals in the form of telegraph parcels (the famous “beep-beep-beep”). In the orbital flight, studies were carried out on the density of the high layers of the atmosphere, the nature of the propagation of radio waves in the ionosphere, and the issues of observing a space object from the Earth were worked out.

The reaction of the world community to this event was very stormy. There were no indifferent people. Millions and millions of "ordinary people" of the planet perceived this event as the greatest achievement of human thought and spirit. The time of the passage of the satellite over various settlements was announced in advance in the press, and people on different continents came out of their homes at night, looked at the sky and saw: among the usual fixed stars, one is moving! In the United States, the launch of the first satellite was a real shock. It suddenly turned out that the USSR, a country that had not yet really recovered from the war, had a powerful scientific, industrial and military potential, and that it must be reckoned with. The prestige of the United States as a world leader in the scientific, technical and military fields has been shaken.

Ray Bradberry:
"On that night, when Sputnik first traced the sky, I (...) looked up and thought about the predestination of the future. After all, that little light, rapidly moving from edge to edge of the sky, was the future of all mankind. I knew that although the Russians are beautiful in our endeavors, we will soon follow them and take their proper place in the sky (...) That fire in the sky made mankind immortal.Earth still could not remain our haven forever, because one day death from cold or overheating may await it. Mankind was ordered to become immortal, and that light in the sky above me was the first glimpse of immortality.

I blessed the Russians for their audacity and anticipated the creation of NASA by President Eisenhower shortly after these events."

At this stage, the “space race” began, from a letter from American scientists to Eisenhower: “We must work feverishly to solve those technical problems that Russia has undoubtedly solved ... In this race (and this is undoubtedly a race), the prize will be given only to the winner, this prize is the leadership of the world ...”.

On November 3 of the same 1957, the Soviet Union launched a second satellite weighing 508.3 kg. It was already a real scientific laboratory. For the first time, a highly organized living creature, the dog Laika, went into outer space. The Americans had to hurry: a week after the launch of the second Soviet satellite, on November 11, the White House announced the upcoming launch of the first US satellite. The launch took place on December 6 and ended in complete failure: two seconds after leaving the launch pad, the rocket fell and exploded, destroying the launch pad. In the future, the Avangard program went very hard, out of eleven launches, only three were successful. Von Braun's Explorer was the first American artificial satellite. It was launched on January 31, 1958. Although the satellite carried 4.5 kg of scientific equipment, and the 4th stage was part of its design and did not undock, its mass was 6 times less than PS-1 - 13.37 kg. This was made possible through the use

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The history of the creation of the first satellite

Launch!

Launch goals

Other satellites

The history of the creation of the first satellite of the Earth