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Sputnik: Traveling Companion
| Title |
Sputnik: Traveling Companion |
| Explanation |
Sputnik means [ http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/index.html ]"traveling companion". Despite the innocuous sounding name, the launch of the Earth's first "artificial moon", Sputnik 1 [ http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/history/hr/34.html ], by the Soviets on October 4, 1957 shocked the free world, setting in motion events which resulted in the creation of NASA [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981001.html ] and the race to the Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970202.html ]. Sputnik 1 [ http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/history/mm/lk_sputdoc.html ] was a 184 pound, 22 inch diameter sphere with four whip antennas connected to battery powered transmitters. The transmitters broadcast a continuous "beeping" signal to an astounded earthbound audience for 23 days. A short month later, on November 3, the Soviet Union followed this success by launching a dog [ http://www.reston.com/sts69/laika.html ] into orbit aboard Sputnik 2 [ http://asca.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/space_level2/laika.html ]. |
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