The anniversary of the launching of Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite

I was away for 10 days on my longest trip in the covid era. I spent a couple of days in Acadia National Park (Maine), ate a whole lobster (not sure f I ever did that before), toured the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum at Bowdoin College and the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut (and ate non-Mystic Pizza pizza while watching the movie Mystic Pizza), visited with three former students, heard my son give a lecture at Susquehanna University, and explored the ups and downs of public transportation (including a delayed Amtrak train due to an accident on the tracks, causing me to take my longest Uber ride ever to get into New York on time). 

I'll get back on track on reporting articles from the IGY Bulletins of 1957 with the next post.

But today I want to honor the launching of Earth's first artificial satellite, Sputnik, on October 4, 1957. NASA's web page on Sputnik and the Dawn of the Space Age states, "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 beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in diameter), weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit 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."

Below is a newsreel from back in the day, with its very retro style. (For some reason Fox News is spinning over the video, even though that purported purveyor of news did not yet exist.)

The Story of the Sputnik Moment by David Hoffman is a longer exploration of the American perspective and cultural context of the launching of Sputnik.

The film was based on Paul Dickson’s book Sputnik: the Shock of the Century (2001).

Another documentary is from the PBS Nova Series, Sputnik Declassified. It posits that President Eisenhower had other plans for the use of space. See that one here. The IGY is highlighted at 26 minutes into the video.

In my opinion, these documentaries are a little naive in terms of the disbelief of Americans who could not conceive that the Soviets could ever beat America with such a technological accomplishment. 

As the Pravda announcement of the launch states, the Soviets had planned to launch satellites during the IGY, as had the U.S. Both were successful, but the Soviets were first. Pravda added, "The successful launching of the first man-made earth satellite makes a most important contribution to the treasure-house of world science and culture. The scientific experiment accomplished at such a great height is of tremendous importance for learning the properties of cosmic space and for studying the earth as a planet of our solar system."

My Sputnik memorabilia items include:

• a signed copy of Dickson's book on Sputnik.

• statuettes my parents brought me after they visited the Soviet Union and my Dad's childhood home in 1964

Each about 2" across. The one on the left, with a little repair clay on it), says 4-X-1957 [date of launch] CCCP [Russian for USSR] on the base. The one on the right has CCCP on the globe, and some text on the base which is difficult to read; I'm not really sure if this one is Sputnik 1 or another satellite/rocket.

• a number of postage stamps, such as Russia (Soviet Union) Scott catalog #1992, with the launch date text "4 October 1957" and "first in the world, Soviet artificial earth satellite," 40 kopeck, issued 5 Nov. 1957, just a month after the actual launch of Sputnik.

I'll return in future posts to Sputnik 2 (launched 3 Nov. 1957) and  Sputnik 3 (15 May 1958), both launched during the IGY, the only other satellites designated by the Soviets as Sputniks. The Russian covid drug is named Sputnik V. Obviously, the name is still used to convey prowess and success.