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| Science & Technology |
| Secrets of Sputnik |
| 2007-10-01 |
 Instead, the first artificial satellite in space was a spur-of-the-moment gamble driven by the dream of one scientist, whose team scrounged a rocket, slapped together a satellite and persuaded a dubious Kremlin to open the space age.And that winking light that crowds around the globe gathered to watch in the night sky? Not Sputnik at all, as it turns out, but just the second stage of its booster rocket, according to Boris Chertok, one of the founders of the Soviet space program. |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #9 It did help that the US announced a few years before that a satellite would be put into orbit in 1958 and then proceeded to develop a civilian rocket for it. Should have stuck a basketball onto a Redstone and launched in the early 1950's. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-10-01 17:52 |
| #8 Kinda of a weird, Von Brauns Huntsville team did the same thing after the Vanguard CF, difference being Explorer I discovered the Van Allen Belt. |
| Posted by: Thomas Woof 2007-10-01 16:58 |
| #7 Sorry, long day, too much code etc. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2007-10-01 15:54 |
| #6 Ok, it's from the John Birch Sociey, but... A Look at the Hidden Truth About Soviet Union's 1957 Launch of Sputnik |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-10-01 15:51 |
| #5 Bright Pebbles, did you read the whole article. I didn't see it as having any sour grapes tone at all. It was just a neat retrospective on a small team that had a dream and made it happen despite big bureaucratic indifference. That's how I read it, anyway. |
| Posted by: lotp 2007-10-01 13:43 |
| #4 It was a good thing for humanity -- otherwise dreamers would still be doing the calculations for the first, perfect rocket. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-10-01 12:51 |
| #3 One of the ideas I got by reading the whole thing was that this was largely the brainchild of one guy. The gummbamint didn't see the value until after the deed was done. Then they wanted another one success, right away. That put Laika in orbit. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2007-10-01 12:10 |
| #2 This isn't news! The voices told me about this YEARS ago! |
| Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 2007-10-01 11:17 |
| #1 So what? They still did it, and did it first. Sometimes I your sour grapes are a bit obvious. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2007-10-01 10:24 |