Draw a picture of the first satellite of the earth. The first artificial satellites from planet earth

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: “All work in the field of rocketry, without exception, ultimately 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 time was difficult and alarming. 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 delivery vehicles were quickly developed - primarily combat missile systems.

On May 13, 1946, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a detailed Resolution on 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 repurposed to produce new equipment, testing grounds were created. On the basis of artillery plant No. 88, the State Union Scientific 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 development tests of “product No. 1” - the R-1 missile - began.

It was in this context that the creation of an artificial Earth satellite began, for which it was necessary to attract enormous financial, material and human resources. In other words, government support was required.

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

It is known that such support is provided only under the obligatory condition that the supported projects seem feasible and urgently necessary to the Decision Makers. But high-ranking leaders, both Soviet and American, turned out to be completely like-minded on the issue of launching Sputnik: they not only did not see the need for it, but also considered the very idea to be fantastic and harmful, diverting forces and resources from the development of combat missiles. It is surprising that, despite the fundamental differences in the internal political, technical, economic, social and cultural situation, many characteristic features of the development of the space idea “between us and them” turned out to be similar, and even the chronology of key events is approximately the same.

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 senior leaders and those who determined the technical policy of states. In our country, the main ideologist and leader of practical work on entering outer space was Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (1907–1966), in the USA - Wernher von Braun (1912–1977).

On May 12, 1946, von Braun's group submitted a report to the US Department of Defense, "Preliminary Design of an Experimental Spacecraft Orbiting the Earth," which stated that a rocket capable of launching a 227 kg satellite into a circular orbit at an altitude of about 480 km could be created in five years, that is, by 1951. The military department responded to von Braun's proposal by refusing to allocate the necessary funds.

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

After moving to NII-4 of the Ministry of Defense, Tikhonravov and his group of seven people continued to work on issues of scientific substantiation of the possibility of launching an artificial Earth satellite. On March 15, 1950, he reported the results of the research work “Long-Range Compound Liquid Fuel Rockets, Artificial Earth Satellites” at a 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” (the very beginning of the 1950s), a “signal to the top” was even sent - they say, public funds are being wasted, and we need to see if this is sabotage? The Ministry of Defense inspection, which inspected 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 (from left to right): Vladimir Galkovsky, Gleb Maksimov, Lidiya Soldatova, Mikhail Tikhonravov and Igor Yatsunsky; in the background (standing): Grigory Moskalenko, Oleg Gurko and Igor Bazhinov. Photo from the archive of Asif Siddiqi

Meanwhile, the work continued: in 1950–1953, research was carried out behind the scenes, almost secretly, and in 1954 the results were made public. And after that the idea was able to “come out of hiding.” This, however, was facilitated by some additional circumstances.

Both Korolev and Brown, each in their own country, did not abandon their efforts to gain the understanding of Decision Makers, putting forward arguments accessible to these Persons for the military and political importance of the development and launch of satellites.

The President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Mstislav Keldysh, most actively supported the idea of launching satellites. Since 1949, academic institutes have conducted research into the upper atmosphere and near-Earth space, as well as the reactions of living organisms during 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 asked the leading world powers to consider the possibility of launching satellites for scientific research. On June 29, US President Dwight Eisenhower (1890–1969) announced that the United States would launch such a satellite. Soon the Soviet Union made the same statement. This meant that work on creating an artificial Earth satellite was legalized, and there was no room left for ridicule and denial of the idea.

On June 26, 1954, Korolev presented to the Minister of Defense Industry Dmitry Ustinov a memorandum “On the artificial Earth satellite,” prepared by Tikhonravov, with an attached review of work on artificial satellites abroad. The note said: “Currently, there are real technical capabilities to achieve, with the help of rockets, speeds sufficient to create an artificial Earth satellite. The most realistic and feasible in the shortest possible time is the creation of an artificial Earth satellite in the form of an automatic instrument, which would be equipped with scientific equipment, have radio communication with the Earth and orbit the Earth at a distance of about 170–1100 km from its surface. We will call such a device the simplest satellite.”

The PS-1 satellite was designed quite simply: it had almost nothing inside except a radio station sending signals to Earth and power supplies. Photo: NASA

In the United States, on May 26, 1955, at a meeting of the National Security Council, a scientific satellite launch program was approved, provided that it did not interfere with the development of military 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 Tikhonravov - this work was carried out by all types of armed forces, and it was necessary to decide which project to give preference to. A special commission was created for this purpose. 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 with sufficient funding, the satellite could be launched into orbit in January 1956. Perhaps, if they had believed him, the United States would have launched its satellite earlier than the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, the choice was made in favor of “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 further developments showed, their choice was not very successful.

1955 The R-7 ICBM is being tested in the USSR. Tikhonravov’s group is actively working on problems related to the creation of artificial satellites. On January 30, 1956, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a resolution on the development of object D (satellite weighing 1000–1400 kg and with scientific equipment weighing 200–300 kg). Launch date: 1957. The preliminary design is ready by June. The development of a ground-based command and measurement complex (CMC) to support the flight of the satellite is underway.

By a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated September 3, 1956, seven ground-based measuring points (GMP) were established on the territory of our country along the flight route. The task was assigned to the Ministry of Defense, with NII-4 designated as the lead organization.

By the end of 1956, it became clear that it would not be possible to prepare object D by the appointed date, and a decision was made 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, a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was issued on the launch of the First AES, and on October 4 the launch was successfully carried out. The device was launched into orbit with a perigee of 228 and an apogee of 947 km. The time for one revolution was 96.2 minutes. The satellite was in orbit for 92 days (until January 4, 1958), completing 1,440 revolutions.

According to factory documentation, the satellite was called PS-1, that is, the simplest satellite. However, the design, scientific and technical problems that faced the developers were by no means simple. In fact, this 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, and two radio transmitters operating at different frequencies and sending signals in the form of telegraph messages (the famous “beep-beep-beep”) were installed on board the satellite. During 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 Earth were worked out.

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

The world community's reaction to this event was very stormy. There were no indifferent people. Millions and millions of “ordinary people” on the planet perceived this event as the greatest achievement of human thought and spirit. The time of the satellite's passage over various populated areas was announced in advance in the press, and people on different continents left their houses at night, looked at the sky and saw: among the usual fixed stars, one was moving!

In the United States, the launch of the first satellite created a real shock. It suddenly turned out that the USSR, a country that had not yet had time to properly recover from the war, had powerful scientific, industrial and military potential, and that it had to be taken into account. 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: an alien device was flying in the sky overhead unhindered and with impunity! And there is no longer a feeling of security and consciousness of one’s own superiority. This was a shock not only for the leadership of the United States, but also for millions of ordinary Americans. The depth of the shock is illustrated by the words of one senior political figure: “I don’t believe this generation of Americans is willing to come to terms with the idea of having to fall asleep by the light of a Communist moon every night.”

At this stage, the “space race” began: in an open letter to President Eisenhower, the editor of Jane's Missiles & Rockets magazine, Erik Bergaust, wrote: “We must be first in space exploration... We must work feverishly to solve those technical problems , which Russia undoubtedly decided... 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 year, 1957, the second satellite weighing 508.3 kg was launched. This 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 taking off from the launch pad, the rocket fell and exploded, destroying the launch pad. Subsequently, the Avangard program went very hard; out of eleven launches, only three were successful. The first American satellite was von Braun's Explorer. 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. Research was carried out on cosmic rays and the level of radiation outside the atmosphere, the flux density of meteoric microparticles, etc. Radiation belts around the Earth were discovered, which were named the Van Allen belts in honor of the American physicist, under whose leadership the scientific equipment was developed. This was the first discovery in the history of space exploration, and it became a scientific sensation.

The first successful launch of 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 received the nickname “orange”. For the first time, solar panels were installed on board, which continued to work in 1959, and radio transmitters.

The pioneers of practical astronautics, the creators of the first artificial Earth satellites, knew how to look far ahead. But even in those years they would hardly have been able to imagine that their small and simple, in modern eyes, devices 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. Together 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, exploration of the Earth's natural resources, monitoring of the earth's surface and much more. If the systems serving Earth's needs were suddenly to disappear, chaos would ensue on Earth.

And the Russian word “sputnik”, which 50 years ago spread all over the world and became known to everyone, has now turned into a word more of a general cultural than a technical lexicon.

FROM HERE

Aircraft that are launched into Earth orbit are called artificial satellites (AES). They are designed to solve applied and scientific problems. According to international agreement, a satellite is a spacecraft that has completed at least one full orbit around the Earth. If not, then it is considered a rocket probe that takes measurements along a ballistic trajectory. The probe is not registered as a satellite.

First artificial satellite

The artificial satellite of our planet, which became the first man-made celestial body created by man, was launched into orbit in 1957 (October 4) in the Soviet Union. This is the result of the country's achievements in the field of rocketry, automatic control, electronics, celestial mechanics, computer technology and other branches of science. Thanks to this satellite, measurements of the density of the upper atmosphere and studies of the characteristics of the propagation of radio signals in the ionosphere were made for the first time. The main technical and theoretical solutions and calculations for launching an artificial Earth satellite into orbit were tested. It was a fantastic breakthrough for mankind in the exploration of outer space, and it marked the beginning of the great Space Age of all mankind. And the palm rightfully belongs to the USSR.

Achievements of different countries

The United States was quite a bit behind the USSR and just four months later, in 1958, on February 1, it launched its first man-made satellite, Explorer 1, into Earth orbit. Other countries of the world have lagged somewhat behind the pioneers. Subsequently, the following states independently launched artificial satellites into orbit:

France in 1965 on November 26 (satellite “A-1”),
Australia in 1967 November 29 (VRESAT-1 satellite),
Japan in 1970 on February 11 (Osumi satellite),
People's Republic of China in 1970 on April 24 (China-1 satellite),
Great Britain in 1971 on October 28 (Prospero satellite).

International cooperation

Some artificial satellites, which were manufactured in Italy, Canada, Great Britain, France and other countries, starting in 1962, were launched into Earth orbit using American launch vehicles. International cooperation is quite widely used in space research practice. Thus, as a result of scientific and technical cooperation between the countries of the socialist camp, a number of satellites were launched. The first of these was Intercosmos-1, which was launched into orbit in 1969 on October 14. By 1973, over 1,300 satellites of various types and purposes were launched. Of these, about 600 are Soviet satellites and more than 700 American and other countries, including manned satellites and space orbital stations controlled by crews.

It is difficult to overestimate the achievements of science in the field of space exploration on Earth. After all, all kinds of scientific research work is carried out with the help of artificial satellites. Depending on the tasks that satellites are capable of solving, they are divided into applied and research. Satellites can also be manned or unmanned. Both serve for numerous studies of the planet itself, celestial bodies and endless outer space.

will expand their horizons in the field of space production. The launch of the first artificial satellite served as an impetus for intensive study of outer space. In just a few decades, research and inventions in this area have assumed enormous proportions. The creation of the first satellite is in itself an interesting fact, but there are also a number of events related to its activities that deserve attention.

The first artificial Earth satellite was launched on October 4, 1957. It is this date that is recognized by humanity as the day of entry into the space age. In Russia, it is also the official holiday of the country's space forces.
The first artificial satellite was named PS-1, which stood for “The Simplest Satellite”.
The launch of PS-1 took place from the first and largest cosmodrome in the world, Baikonur, located on the territory of modern Kazakhstan.
A whole group of brilliant scientists and researchers worked on the development of the first satellite. Their leadership was entrusted to the outstanding designer and Soviet Union Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. It is noteworthy that before the development of this outstanding achievement of rocket and space technology began, he spent six years in prison, but was subsequently rehabilitated for lack of evidence of a crime.
After the launch of the satellite, the world community nominated its designer as a candidate for the Nobel Prize.. However, the name Korolev was kept secret by the Soviet government. In response to the proposed reward, they replied that this was the merit of the entire Soviet people.
The appearance of the satellite was a ball weighing about 80 kilograms with four antennas at the edges.
314 seconds after takeoff, PS-1 issued a characteristic sound signal, which people in all corners of the globe could hear. It marked the triumph of humanity, which had reached unprecedented heights of its scientific activity.
Interestingly, the satellite was not equipped with any scientific equipment. The only way to study it was to receive the radio signals it sent, which all institutes and scientific laboratories on Earth began to actively engage in.
Sputnik-1 spent exactly 4 months in outer space. The end of his flight took place on January 4, 1958. During his stay outside the earth's atmosphere, he covered a distance of almost 60 million kilometers.
The satellite was launched using the R-7 ballistic missile, which its inventors affectionately nicknamed Semerka.
Experimental launches of the above-mentioned rocket failed for a long time. However, in August 1957, the launch of the rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome was successful and it landed safely at a base located in Kamchatka.
In 2007, in honor of the anniversary of the creation of PS-1, a monument to him was erected in the city of Korolev.
On the day of the launch of PS-1, another international conference dedicated to astronautics was held in Barcelona. Since the development of outer space in the USSR was classified as secret, representatives of the Soviet Union who took part in the congress meeting shocked the entire world community with their statement.
“Taming the Fire” is a product of the domestic film industry. The film, released in 1972, describes the biographical features of the life of the head of the Soviet space program, Korolev, and members of his team. An American-made film, “October Sky,” was also shot, also based on real events.
Another merit of the first satellite was the emergence of the global Internet. After all, it was research related to the work of PS-1 that led to the idea of its creation.

The Earth satellite does a very important job around our planet Earth. Although we cannot see it, it is always there in space. It is rather large in size, but it can easily fit on a landscape sheet in the form of a step-by-step drawing! So, let's start creating!

Required materials:

school pencil for sketching;
colored pencils;
eraser;
album sheet.

Satellite imaging stages:

Draw a line at an angle. Then in the upper part we draw two ovals of different sizes. Let's finish drawing the main part of the satellite. Let's then add another part of it in the background. Now the general outline is ready. Let's move on to the next stage.

We draw small details on the surface of the satellite. First, there are arcs around the object. Secondly, these are lines and small elements that need to be placed in different parts of the object. They have different shapes: round, oval, square, and rectangular.

From the back of the satellite, four lines should be drawn in different directions of the sheet. They will determine the placement and size of solar panels, additional devices and parts on the satellite.

On the sides of each line we add one more and get long stripes. We divide them into three equal parts. We finish drawing the base and small circles from each corner of the small part.

We erase the lines on the satellite, because it is already completely ready in black and white. But at the bottom of the sheet you should draw a small part of our planet Earth. We draw several arcs to show that it is round. Then we’ll sketch out the clouds and the ocean just below.

Use a black pencil to outline the outline of the satellite. Then we color our space object with a brown pencil. We work on all the shadow parts to give it volume.

Then we go to the planet and take pencils of green, blue, gray and black colors for it. We color it gradually to give the picture a beautiful appearance. Using a black pencil we create the final touches and outline.

This completes the step-by-step drawing of the satellite using simple and colored pencils. The finished image will decorate a postcard or wall newspaper for Cosmonautics Day at a school or other educational institution.

We have long been accustomed to the fact that we live in the era of space exploration. However, watching today's huge reusable rockets and space orbital stations, many do not realize that the first launch of a spacecraft took place not so long ago - only 60 years ago.

General information

Who launched the first artificial Earth satellite? - USSR. This question is of great importance, since this event gave rise to the so-called space race between two superpowers: the USA and the USSR.

What was the name of the world's first artificial satellite? - since such devices did not exist before, Soviet scientists considered that the name “Sputnik-1” was quite suitable for this device. The code designation of the device is PS-1, which stands for “The Simplest Sputnik-1”.

Externally, the satellite had a rather simple appearance and was an aluminum sphere with a diameter of 58 cm to which two curved antennas were attached crosswise, allowing the device to distribute radio emission evenly and in all directions. Inside the sphere, made of two hemispheres fastened with 36 bolts, there were 50-kilogram silver-zinc batteries, a radio transmitter, a fan, a thermostat, pressure and temperature sensors. The total weight of the device was 83.6 kg. It is noteworthy that the radio transmitter broadcast in the range of 20 MHz and 40 MHz, that is, ordinary radio amateurs could monitor it.

History of creation

The history of the first space satellite and space flights in general begins with the first ballistic rocket - the V-2 (Vergeltungswaffe-2). The rocket was developed by the famous German designer Wernher von Braun at the end of World War II.

The first test launch took place in 1942, and the combat launch in 1944; a total of 3,225 launches were carried out, mainly across Great Britain.

After the war, Wernher von Braun surrendered to the US Army, and therefore headed the Weapons Design and Development Service in the United States. Back in 1946, a German scientist presented the US Department of Defense with a report “Preliminary design of an experimental spacecraft orbiting the Earth,” where he noted that within five years a rocket capable of launching such a ship into orbit could be developed. However, funding for the project was not approved.

On May 13, 1946, Joseph Stalin adopted a decree on the creation of a missile industry in the USSR. Sergei Korolev was appointed chief designer of ballistic missiles. Over the next 10 years, scientists developed intercontinental ballistic missiles R-1, R2, R-3, etc.

In 1948, rocket designer Mikhail Tikhonravov gave a report to the scientific community about composite rockets and the results of calculations, according to which the 1000-kilometer rockets being developed could reach great distances and even launch an artificial Earth satellite into orbit. However, such a statement was criticized and was not taken seriously.

Tikhonravov’s department at NII-4 was disbanded due to irrelevant work, but later, through the efforts of Mikhail Klavdievich, it was reassembled in 1950. Then Mikhail Tikhonravov spoke directly about the mission to put the satellite into orbit.

Satellite model

After the creation of the R-3 ballistic missile, its capabilities were presented at the presentation, according to which the missile was capable of not only hitting targets at a distance of 3000 km, but also launching a satellite into orbit. So, by 1953, scientists still managed to convince top management that the launch of an orbital satellite was possible.

And the leaders of the armed forces began to understand the prospects of developing and launching an artificial Earth satellite (AES). For this reason, in 1954, a resolution was adopted to create a separate group at NII-4 with Mikhail Klavdievich, which would design the satellite and plan the mission. In the same year, Tikhonravov’s group presented a program for space exploration, from launching satellites to landing on the Moon.

In 1955, a delegation of the Politburo headed by N. S. Khrushchev visited the Leningrad Metal Plant, where the construction of the two-stage R-7 rocket was completed. The delegation's impression resulted in the signing of a resolution on the creation and launch of a satellite into earth orbit in the next two years. The design of the satellite began in November 1956, and in September 1957, the “Simple Sputnik-1” was successfully tested on a vibration stand and in a thermal chamber.

Definitely answering the question “who invented Sputnik 1?” — it is impossible to answer. The development of the first Earth satellite took place under the leadership of Mikhail Tikhonravov, and the creation of the launch vehicle and launch of the satellite into orbit was under the leadership of Sergei Korolev. However, a considerable number of scientists and researchers worked on both projects.

Launch history

In February 1955, senior management approved the creation of Research Test Site No. 5 (later Baikonur), which was to be located in the Kazakhstan desert. The first ballistic missiles of the R-7 type were tested at the test site, but based on the results of five experimental launches, it became clear that the massive warhead of the ballistic missile could not withstand the temperature load and required modification, which would take about six months.

For this reason, S.P. Korolev requested from N.S. Khrushchev two rockets for the experimental launch of PS-1. At the end of September 1957, the R-7 rocket arrived at Baikonur with a lightweight head and a transition under the satellite. Excess equipment was removed, as a result of which the mass of the rocket was reduced by 7 tons.

On October 2, S.P. Korolev signed an order for flight testing of the satellite and sent a notification of readiness to Moscow. And although no answers came from Moscow, Sergei Korolev decided to launch the Sputnik (R-7) launch vehicle from PS-1 to the launch position.

The reason why management demanded the launch of the satellite into orbit during this period is that from July 1, 1957 to December 31, 1958, the so-called International Geophysical Year was held. According to it, during this period, 67 countries jointly and under a single program carried out geophysical research and observations.

The launch date of the first artificial satellite was October 4, 1957. In addition, on the same day the opening of the VIII International Congress of Astronautics took place in Spain, Barcelona. The leaders of the USSR space program were not disclosed to the public due to the secrecy of the work being carried out; Academician Leonid Ivanovich Sedov reported to Congress about the sensational launch of the satellite. Therefore, it was the Soviet physicist and mathematician Sedov that the world community long considered to be the “father of Sputnik.”

Flight history

At 22:28:34 Moscow time, a rocket with a satellite was launched from the first site of NIIP No. 5 (Baikonur). After 295 seconds, the central block of the rocket and the satellite were launched into an elliptical orbit of the Earth (apogee - 947 km, perigee - 288 km). After another 20 seconds, PS-1 separated from the rocket and gave a signal. It was a repeated signal of “Beep! Beep!”, which were caught at the test site for 2 minutes, until Sputnik 1 disappeared over the horizon.

On the first orbit of the device around the Earth, the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) transmitted a message about the successful launch of the world's first satellite.

After receiving the PS-1 signals, detailed data began to arrive about the device, which, as it turned out, was close to not reaching the first escape velocity and not entering orbit. The reason for this was an unexpected failure of the fuel control system, which caused one of the engines to lag. Failure was a split second away.

However, PS-1 still successfully achieved an elliptical orbit, in which it moved for 92 days, while completing 1440 revolutions around the planet. The device's radio transmitters worked for the first two weeks. What caused the death of the first Earth satellite? — Having lost speed due to atmospheric friction, Sputnik 1 began to descend and completely burned up in dense layers of the atmosphere.

It is noteworthy that many could observe a certain brilliant object moving across the sky during that period. But without special optics, the shiny body of the satellite could not be seen, and in fact this object was the second stage of the rocket, which also rotated in orbit, along with the satellite.

Flight meaning

The first launch of an artificial Earth satellite in the USSR produced an unprecedented rise in pride in their country and a strong blow to the prestige of the United States. An excerpt from the United Press publication: “90 percent of the talk about artificial Earth satellites came from the United States. As it turned out, 100 percent of the case fell on Russia...”

And despite the erroneous ideas about the technical backwardness of the USSR, it was the Soviet device that became the first satellite of the Earth, moreover, its signal could be tracked by any radio amateur. The flight of the first Earth satellite marked the beginning of the space age and launched the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Just 4 months later, on February 1, 1958, the United States launched its Explorer 1 satellite, which was assembled by the team of scientist Wernher von Braun. And although it was several times lighter than PS-1 and contained 4.5 kg of scientific equipment, it was still second and no longer had the same impact on the public.

Scientific results of the PS-1 flight

The launch of this PS-1 had several goals:

Testing the technical ability of the device, as well as checking the calculations taken for the successful launch of the satellite;

Ionosphere research. Before the launch of the spacecraft, radio waves sent from Earth were reflected from the ionosphere, eliminating the possibility of studying it. Now scientists have been able to begin studying the ionosphere through the interaction of radio waves emitted by a satellite from space and traveling through the atmosphere to the surface of the Earth.

Calculation of the density of the upper layers of the atmosphere by observing the rate of deceleration of the vehicle due to friction with the atmosphere;

Study of the influence of outer space on equipment, as well as the determination of favorable conditions for the operation of equipment in space.

Listen to the sound of the First Satellite

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And although the satellite did not have any scientific equipment, monitoring its radio signal and analyzing its nature gave many useful results. Thus, a group of scientists from Sweden carried out measurements of the electronic composition of the ionosphere, relying on the Faraday effect, which states that the polarization of light changes when passing through a magnetic field.

Also, a group of Soviet scientists from Moscow State University developed a technique for observing the satellite with precise determination of its coordinates. Observation of this elliptical orbit and the nature of its behavior made it possible to determine the density of the atmosphere in the region of orbital altitudes. The unexpectedly increased density of the atmosphere in these areas prompted scientists to create the theory of satellite braking, which contributed to the development of astronautics.

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