The first artificial Earth satellite was created and launched into space in the USSR. It happened on October 4, 1957. On this day, radio stations around the world interrupted their transmissions to announce the most important news. The Russian word "satellite" has entered into all languages ​​of the world.

It was a fantastic breakthrough of mankind in the exploration of outer space, and it laid the foundation for the great Space Age of all mankind. And the palm rightfully belongs to the USSR.

Here is a picture taken in the lobby of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In the foreground is the First Sputnik, the highest technological achievement of its time.
On the second - employees of IKI - outstanding scientists, creators of the first satellite, atomic weapons, space science and technology.

If it is not readable in the picture, here are their names:

• Yakov Borisovich Zeldovich - theoretical physicist, repeatedly awarded the Stalin Prize of the 1st degree for special work related to the atomic bomb. Three times Hero of Socialist Labor.

October 4, 1957 forever entered the history of mankind as the beginning of a new era - space. It was on this day that the first artificial satellite (AES) - Sputnik-1 - was sent to surf space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It weighed relatively little - 83.6 kilograms, but at that time delivering even such a "crumb" into orbit was a very serious task.

I think that in Russia there is no person who would not know who was the first man in space.

With the first satellite, the situation is more complicated. Many do not even know what country he belonged to.

Thus began a new era in science and the legendary space race between the USSR and the USA.

The era of rocket science begins at the beginning of the last century, with theory. It was then that the outstanding scientist Tsiolkovsky, in his article on the jet engine, actually predicted the appearance of satellites. Despite the fact that the professor had many students who continued to popularize his ideas, many considered him to be just a dreamer.

Then new times came, the country had a lot of things to do and problems, except for rocket science. But two decades later, Friedrich Zander and the now famous aviator engineer Korolenko founded a group to study jet propulsion. After that, there were several events that led to the fact that 30 years later the first satellite was launched into space, and after some time, a man:

• 1933 - launch of the first rocket with a jet engine;
• 1943 - the invention of the German V-2 rockets;
• 1947–1954 - rocket launches P1-P7.

The apparatus itself was ready in mid-May at 7 pm. His device was quite simple, there were 2 beacons on it, which made it possible to measure the trajectory of his flight. Interestingly, after sending a notice that the satellite was ready for flight, Korolev did not receive any answer from Moscow and independently decided to place the satellite on the starting position.

The preparation and launch of the satellite was led by S.P. Korolev. The satellite made 1440 complete revolutions in 92 days, after which it burned down, entering the dense layers of the atmosphere. The radio transmitters worked for two weeks after the launch.

The first satellite was given the name PS-1. When the project of the first-born space was born, there were disputes among engineers and developers: what should it be in shape? After listening to the arguments of all parties, Sergei Pavlovich categorically stated: "A ball and only a ball!" - and, without waiting for questions, he explained his plan: “The ball, its shape, the conditions of its habitat from the point of view of aerodynamics have been thoroughly studied.

Known for its pros and cons. And this is of no small importance.

Understand - FIRST! When humanity sees an artificial satellite, it should evoke good feelings in it. What could be more expressive than a ball? It is close to the shape of natural celestial bodies in our solar system. People will perceive the satellite as a kind of image, as a symbol of the space age!

I consider it necessary to install such transmitters on board so that radio amateurs on all continents can receive their call signs. The orbital flight of the satellite is calculated in such a way that, using the simplest optical instruments, everyone from the Earth can see the flight of the Soviet satellite.

On the morning of October 3, 1957, scientists, designers, members of the State Commission gathered at the assembly and test building - everyone who was associated with the launch. They were waiting for the two-stage rocket and space system Sputnik to be taken to the launch pad.

The metal gates opened. The locomotive, as it were, pushed out a rocket placed on a special platform. Sergei Pavlovich, setting up a new tradition, took off his hat. His example of high respect for the work that created this miracle of technology was followed by others.

Korolev took a few steps behind the rocket, stopped and, according to the old Russian custom, said: “Well, with God!”.

Before the start of the space age, there were only a few hours left. What awaited Korolev and his associates? Will October 4 be the victorious day that he dreamed of for many years? The sky, studded with stars that night, seemed to become closer to the Earth. And everyone who was present at the launch pad involuntarily looked at Korolev. What was he thinking about as he looked into the dark sky, twinkling with myriads of near and far stars? Perhaps he remembered the words of Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky: “The first great step of mankind is to fly out of the atmosphere and become a satellite of the Earth”?

The last meeting of the State Commission before the start. There was a little more than an hour left before the start of the experiment. The floor was given to S.P. Korolev, everyone was waiting for a detailed report, but the chief designer was brief: “The launch vehicle and satellite passed the launch tests. I propose to launch the rocket and space complex at the appointed time, today at 22:28.”

And here is the long-awaited launch!

"THE FIRST ARTIFICIAL EARTH SATELLITE, A SOVIET SPACE VEHICLE LAUNCHED INTO ORBIT."

The launch was carried out from the 5th Tyura-Tam research site of the USSR Ministry of Defense on a Sputnik launch vehicle, created on the basis of the R7 intercontinental ballistic missile.

Launch and flight

On Friday, October 4, at 22:28:34 Moscow time (19:28:34 GMT), a successful launch was made.

295 seconds after the launch of the PS-1 and the central block (stage II) of the rocket weighing 7.5 tons were launched

elliptical orbit with a height of 947 km at apogee and 288 km at perigee. The apogee was in the Southern Hemisphere and the perigee was in the Northern Hemisphere. 314.5 seconds after the launch, the protective cone was dropped and Sputnik separated from the second stage of the launch vehicle, 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 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 Earth satellite has been created."

Only after receiving the first signals of the Sputnik did the results of telemetry data processing come in and it turned out that only a fraction of a second separated from failure. Before the start, the engine in the G block was “delayed”, 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 tank emptying system (SES) failed, and due to the increased consumption of kerosene, the central engine turned off 1 second ahead of the estimated time. According to the memoirs of B. E. Chertok: “A little more - and the first cosmic speed could not be achieved.

But the winners are not judged! Great things have happened!"

The orbital inclination of Sputnik-1 was about 65 degrees, which meant that Sputnik-1 flew approximately between the Arctic Circle and the Antarctic Circle, due to the rotation of the Earth during each revolution, shifting by 24 degrees in longitude 37.

The orbital period of Sputnik-1 was initially 96.2 minutes, then it gradually decreased due to the decrease in orbit, for example, after 22 days it became 53 seconds shorter.

History of creation

The flight of the first satellite was preceded by a long work of scientists and designers, in which scientists played a significant role.

Here are their names:

1. Valentin Semenovich Etkin - sounding of the Earth's surface from space by remote radiophysical methods.
2. Pavel Efimovich Elyasberg - during the launch of the first Artificial Earth Satellite, he supervised the work on determining the orbits and predicting the satellite's motion based on the results of measurements.
3. Yan Lvovich Ziman - Ph.D. thesis, defended at MIIGAiK, was devoted to the selection of orbits for satellites.
4. Georgy Ivanovich Petrov - together with S.P. Korolev and M.V. Keldysh, who stood at the origins of astronautics.
5. Iosif Samuilovich Shklovsky - founder of the school of modern astrophysics.
6. Georgiy Stepanovich Narimanov - programs and methods of navigation and ballistic support in controlling the flights of artificial earth satellites.
7. Konstantin Iosifovich Gringauz, the first artificial Earth satellite, launched in 1957, carried on board a radio transmitter created by a scientific and technical group led by K. I. Gringauz.
8. Yuri Ilyich Galperin - magnetospheric research.
9. Semyon Samoilovich Moiseev - plasma and hydrodynamics.
10. Vasily Ivanovich Moroz - Physics of planets and small bodies of the solar system.

satellite device

The satellite body consisted of two power hemispherical shells with a diameter of 58.0 cm made of aluminum-magnesium alloy AMg-6 2 mm thick with docking frames interconnected by 36 M8 × 2.5 studs. Before launch, the satellite was filled with dry nitrogen gas at a pressure of 1.3 atmospheres. The tightness of the joint was ensured by a gasket made of vacuum rubber. The upper half-shell had a smaller radius and was covered with a hemispherical outer screen 1 mm thick to provide thermal insulation.

The shell surfaces were polished and processed to give them special optical properties. On the upper half-shell, two corner vibrator antennas were located crosswise, facing back; each consisted of two arms-pins 2.4 m long (VHF antenna) and 2.9 m each (HF antenna), the angle between the arms in a pair was 70 °; the shoulders were bred to the required angle with a spring
mechanism after separation from the launch vehicle.

Such an antenna provided radiation close to uniform in all directions, which was required for stable radio reception due to the fact that the satellite was not oriented. The design of the antennas was proposed by G. T. Markov (MPEI). On the front half-shell there were four sockets for mounting antennas with pressure seal fittings and a filling valve flange. On the rear half-shell there was an interlocking heel contact, which included an autonomous on-board power supply after the separation of the satellite from the launch vehicle, as well as a flange of the test system connector.

Scheme of the orbit of the first satellite of the Earth. /From the newspaper "Soviet Aviation"/. 1957

Inside the sealed case were placed:

• block of electrochemical sources (silver-zinc accumulators);
• radio transmitting device;
• a fan that is switched on by a thermal relay at temperatures above +30°С and switched off when the temperature drops to +20…23°С;
• 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.

Flight parameters

• The flight began on October 4, 1957 at 19:28:34 GMT.
• The end of the flight - January 4, 1958.
• The mass of the device is 83.6 kg.
• The maximum diameter is 0.58 m.
• Orbital inclination - 65.1°.
• The circulation period is 96.2 minutes.
• Perigee - 228 km.
• Apogee - 947 km.
• Vitkov - 1440.

Memory

In honor of the beginning of the space age of mankind in 1964, a 99-meter obelisk "To the Conquerors of Space" was opened in Moscow on Mira Avenue.

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik-1, on October 4, 2007, a monument to the First Artificial Earth Satellite was unveiled in the city of Korolev on Cosmonauts Avenue.

An ice plateau on Pluto was named after Sputnik 1 in 2017.

Picking up speed, the rocket confidently went up. Everyone who was involved in the launch of the satellite gathered at the launch pad. The nervous excitement did not subside. Everyone was waiting for the satellite to circle the Earth and appear above the spaceport. “There is a signal,” the voice of the operator rang out over the speakerphone.

At the same second, the sonorous, confident voice of the companion poured out of the speaker over the steppe. Everyone applauded in unison. Someone shouted "Hurrah!", The victory cry was picked up by the rest. Strong handshakes, hugs. An atmosphere of happiness reigned ... Korolev looked around: Ryabinin, Keldysh, Glushko, Kuznetsov, Nesterenko, Bushuev, Pilyugin, Ryazansky, Tikhonravov. Everyone is here, everything is nearby - "a mighty bunch in science and technology", adherents of the ideas of Tsiolkovsky.

It seemed that the general rejoicing of those gathered at that moment on the launch pad could not be appeased. But Korolev got up on the impromptu podium. Silence reigned. He did not hide his joy: his eyes shone, his face, usually stern, shone.

“Today, what the best sons of mankind dreamed of, and among them our famous scientist Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, has come true. He brilliantly predicted that mankind would not remain forever on Earth. The satellite is the first confirmation of his prophecy. The space storm has begun. We can be proud that our Motherland started it. To all - a big Russian thank you!

Here are reviews from the foreign press.

The Italian scientist Beniamino Segre, learning about the satellite, said: "As a person and as a scientist, I am proud of the triumph of the human mind, emphasizing the high level of socialist science."

Review of the New York Times: “The success of the USSR first of all shows that this is the greatest feat of Soviet science and technology. Such a feat could only be accomplished by a country with first-class conditions in a very wide field of science and technology.

The statement of the German rocket scientist Herman Oberth is curious: “Only a country with a huge scientific and technical potential could successfully solve such a difficult task as launching the first satellite of the Earth. It was also necessary to have a considerable number of specialists. And the Soviet Union has them. I admire the talent of Soviet scientists.”

The physicist, Nobel Prize winner Frederic Joliot-Curie gave the deepest assessment of what happened: “This is a great victory for man, which is a turning point in the history of civilization. Man is no longer chained to his planet."

In all languages ​​of the world on this day it sounded: “cosmos”, “satellite”, “USSR”, “Russian scientists”.

In 1958 S.P. Korolev makes a report "On the program of exploration of the Moon", supervises the launch of a geophysical rocket with research equipment and two dogs in the descender, participates in organizing the flight of the third artificial Earth satellite - the first scientific station. And a lot of other scientific work was done under his leadership.

And finally, the triumph of science - April 12, 1961. Sergei Pavlovich Korolev - leader of the historic human space flight. This day became an event in the history of mankind: for the first time, a man defeated the earth's gravity and rushed into outer space ... Then real courage and courage were required to get into a "space ball", as the ship "Vostok" was sometimes called, and, not thinking about one's own fate, fly away into the boundless starry space.

The day before, Korolev addressed the members of the State Commission: “Dear comrades! Less than four years have passed since the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, and we are already ready for the first manned flight into space. There is a group of cosmonauts here, each of them is ready to make a flight. It was decided that Yuri Gagarin would fly first. Others will follow him in the near future. Next in line we have new flights that will be interesting for science and for the benefit of mankind.”

Korolev's Martian project remained unfinished. New ones will come, those who will continue this project and lead their ships along the Milky Way to distant planets, to distant worlds...

On my own behalf, I can add that the glory of the Fatherland is brought and will be brought by the heroes of science, who imprinted Knowledge with their lives.

The first artificial earth satellite is one of the greatest scientific achievements of the 20th century. Yet, paradoxically, this great scientific and technological achievement was largely facilitated by the Cold War between the two superpowers: the US and the Soviet Union. The launch of the first artificial Earth satellite was also necessary for the growing need to obtain reliable information about the upper atmosphere, the possibility of transmitting a radio signal from orbit, etc.

In the early 1950s, both the US and the USSR were actively developing rockets for the space program. In particular, in May 1954, Chief Designer Sergei Korolev met with the Minister of Defense of the USSR and reported that the first artificial Earth satellite could be launched into orbit. A similar statement was made on July 29, 1955 by the President of the United States, Dwight Eisenhower, while he indicated the dates between 1957 and 1958.

In early August 1955, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU approved the creation of the first satellite of the Earth. This project was headed by Korolev, as well as Vasily Ryabikov, who oversaw the test launches of the R-7 rocket. To launch, the simplest first Earth satellite with two radio beacons on board was developed.

Satellite #1 was a 585mm sphere covered with a heat shield made of aluminium, magnesium and titanium. It was equipped with four long antennas that were capable of transmitting simple to the Earth's surface in two frequencies. The first artificial Earth satellite was also equipped with three silver-zinc batteries that could work for two weeks. The temperature control system was a radiator with a fan, a sealed circuit, a forced heat exchange system designed to maintain a stable internal temperature. This system used bimetal thermal relays as the sensing element. Whenever the temperature was above 36°C, the fan was turned on, and nitrogen circulated through the heat transfer system from the hemispheres. When the temperature dropped below 20°C, the fan turned off.

Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. 295.4 seconds after launch, the first artificial Earth satellite was launched into orbit. It was only the third successful flight of the R-7 rocket, which was created for intercontinental flight with thermonuclear satellite developed the first calculated by Newton. It was 7780 m/s. He made a complete revolution in 96.2 minutes. Despite the fact that it was developed in just two weeks, the mission lasted 22 days until the batteries ran out. Radio amateurs from all over the world followed the sound signals transmitted by the satellite. It could be observed - like a star of the first magnitude - even with the naked eye. The satellite went out of orbit and burned up in the atmosphere on January 4, 1958.

The American public and media were so surprised by the technological breakthrough of the USSR that a wave of paranoia swept through the United States. The political and public reaction to the publication of the TASS message was unexpected for the USSR. Thus, by replacing the thermonuclear hydrogen bomb with a small satellite, the Soviet Union won a significant political and social victory.

The satellite crisis led to the creation of the US Advanced Research Projects Agency and NASA, as well as a significant increase in government spending on education and scientific research.

The United States was able to launch its first artificial satellite, Explorer 1, on January 31, 1958. It was cylindrical with a diameter of 15 cm and a length of 203 cm with a mass of 14 kg. He transmitted data on the measurement of cosmic rays and on the level of radiation for 112 days. These data led to the discovery

Since 1957, about 7,000 satellites have been launched into the Earth's orbit, most of which are already out of order and present a real hindrance to further space exploration.

Greetings, my dear readers! If you look at the sky at night, then among a million stars you can sometimes distinguish bright luminous points that fly through the sky in 10 minutes. These are satellites. In the era of space exploration, these artificial assistants communicate via cellular communication and make it possible to watch TV and listen to the radio, they help ships not to get lost in the vast expanses of the oceans, they broadcast weather for meteorologists.

Do you know which country launched the first artificial Earth satellite, and in what year it was? Not everyone knows for sure that he was sent into space 60 years ago, and this happened in 1957.

Lesson plan:

How it all began?

The USSR was the first in the world to launch an artificial satellite into earth orbit in space. At that time, there was a competition between the Soviet Union and America who would be the first to conquer outer space. Therefore, the team of scientists involved in practical astronautics faced a difficult task - to get ahead of the United States and prove the strength of Soviet science.

The history of the appearance of artificial satellites begins in the post-war years at the Jet Institute of the USSR, where scientists were actively involved in the design of ballistic missiles, tested, measured and improved their flight range. As a result of work under the leadership of Sergei Korolev, a powerful R-7 rocket appeared and the idea arose of creating an artificial satellite that could be sent into orbit with the help of this rocket.

The first spacecraft was given a code name - PS-1, which stands for "the simplest satellite 1." Developed in just a couple of weeks, it really was the simplest, since there was no time to prepare a more complex device - the Americans "stepped on our heels."

What was the first satellite made of?

The first artificial satellite was arranged quite simply - in the form of a ball made of metal, 58.5 centimeters in diameter. The satellite had "horns" - two antennas of 2.9 meters and two of 2.4 meters, and each pair of such "horns" was located at an angle of 70 degrees, "crosswise" so that the radio signal from the device evenly propagated in different sides.

If you unscrew 36 bolts, then the ball could be divided into two halves, which opened the entire "stuffing":

• batteries - they had to ensure uninterrupted operation of the satellite for at least two weeks,
• radio transmitters that were supposed to transmit signals at two radio frequencies - 20 and 40 megahertz, audible even to ordinary radio amateurs,
• a fan that turns on every time the temperature starts to exceed 36 degrees, and turns off automatically when the air cools down to 20 degrees,
• temperature control system with sensors that transmitted a signal to the fan about an increase in temperature,
• on-board electrics and pressure sensors.

All these elements were entangled with electrical wires and connected into one working mechanism. The mass of the entire satellite was 83.6 kilograms.

The beginning of the space age

The launch of PS-1 took place on October 4, 1957 with the help of the Sputnik launch vehicle created on the basis of the ballistic R-7. The rocket with a small silver ball in its “head” was launched from the Tyura-Tam test site (later this test site became the well-known Baikonur cosmodrome) at 22:28 Moscow time.

After 295 seconds, the satellite entered Earth orbit at an altitude of 947 kilometers, and its first voice in the form of “Beep! Beep! Beep! ”, Which all Soviet radio amateurs were looking forward to near the radios, he filed after 314 seconds. Hundreds of thousands of people stared in amazement at the night sky, trying to find the treasured flying point.

From the life of facts. Due to its small size, the first satellite launched into space theoretically could not be seen with the naked eye. What then did eyewitnesses see in the sky? It is said that that bright dot was nothing more than a stage from a launch vehicle much larger than the PS-1. She flew for a short time next to the satellite and served as a guide. But she was flying in the neighborhood, so everything is fair!

PS-1 in 92 days of its journey made 1440 revolutions around the Earth, flying approximately 60 million kilometers. On January 4, 1958, he lost speed and burned out due to friction with the air when he entered the dense atmospheric layers on the way back. Therefore, at exhibitions today you can see only reproduced copies of it.

Launched: what's next?

The flight of the first terrestrial satellite became the starting point for the active exploration of outer space. Who would have known that after the first signals from orbit it would become clear that only fractions of one second separated the success of Soviet science and the failure of a rocket launch.

It turns out that at the 16th second of the flight, the fuel supply system went haywire, because the central engine turned off earlier than expected. This might not be enough to gain the desired speed, the rocket would simply fall back to Earth. But then luck smiled at the scientists, and the Soviet Union rightfully became the first.

Thanks to this launch, scientists received important technical information for them on further calculations of the trajectories of the rocket, the operation of systems, and the passage of signals. Astronomers calculated the density of the atmosphere from the change in the speed of the satellite, which no one could do before.

A little later, on November 3 of the same year, the USSR sent a second satellite into space, equipping it with different equipment and putting the commander, the dog Laika, behind the wheel. And then more and more. You have probably already read the history of the conquest of space - from to.

The first earth satellite has a monument. It was opened 50 years after its launch, in 2007, in Korolev.

Now you know how our space exploration began. Today, no one thinks and is not surprised how the most complex devices work, how cellular communications appeared and how we can access the World Wide Web. For us, this is commonplace, which appeared thanks to the work of Soviet scientists 60 years ago.

Let's now see how it was.

On this I say goodbye to you, setting off for new interesting facts about everything in the world. I'm waiting for you on the pages of "School".

At the beginning of the 20th century, aviation captured the minds of people. In 1908, the founder of theoretical cosmonautics published an article in the journal "Bulletin of Aeronautics" "Research of world spaces by jet instruments". This and his other works anticipated the appearance of liquid fuel rockets, artificial earth satellites and orbital stations.

The creation of the satellite was preceded by many years of hard work by research institutes and design bureaus.

Before the start of the Great Patriotic War, solid-propellant projectiles and boosters for aircraft, the first domestic liquid-propellant engines, were developed in the laboratories of the USSR. In 1933, the first rocket in the USSR with a liquid-propellant rocket engine GIRD-09 was launched. Ballistic and cruise missiles for various purposes, solid propellant and liquid engines were also developed and tested.

Scientists and inventors who devoted years to building jet-propelled rockets saw space exploration as the ultimate goal of their work.

The designer, an associate, said back in the 1930s: "Without exception, all work in the field of rocket technology eventually leads to space flight."

After the end of the war, Soviet inventors led by Korolev gained access to captured German technology, in particular the V-2, a rocket with a range of up to 320 km, which became the first object to make a suborbital space flight.

On its base, later under the leadership of Korolev, a number of Soviet missiles were created and put into service. In 1954, the development of the R-7 rocket began, with a flight range of up to 9500 km. The Seven became the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile to successfully pass tests and deliver a warhead to an intercontinental range.

“The history of the creation of the First Sputnik is the history of the rocket. Rocket technology of the Soviet Union and the United States had a German origin,

- noted the scientist-designer Boris Chertok.

September 25, 1955 at the anniversary session of the Moscow Higher Technical School. Bauman, dedicated to his 125th birthday, Korolev, speaking with a report, said: “Our tasks are to make Soviet missiles fly higher and earlier than this will be done anywhere else. Our tasks are to make a Soviet man fly on a rocket ... To make the first artificial satellite of the Earth Soviet, created by Soviet people.

Only a ball!

Korolev proposed "Seven" as a candidate for launching an artificial Earth satellite into space. This initiative found support in the USSR. In April 1956, at the suggestion of Korolev, she convened an All-Union Conference on the Study of the Upper Atmosphere. On it, Korolev read the report "Investigation of the upper layers of the atmosphere with the help of long-range missiles."

“The current development of technology is such that we can expect in the near future the creation of an artificial satellite of the Earth, perhaps a satellite simply at relatively low altitudes, and then a permanent satellite,

he said. — The real challenge is to develop a rocket flight to the moon and back from the moon. This problem is most easily solved when launching from a satellite, but it is also solved when launching from the Earth.

Initially, the Government Decree ordered the creation of a satellite, the tasks of which included measuring the ionic composition of space, corpuscular radiation of the Sun, magnetic fields, cosmic rays, the thermal regime of the satellite, its deceleration in the upper atmosphere, the duration of existence in orbit, the accuracy of determining the coordinates and parameters of the orbit. The mass of the satellite was supposed to be 1000-1400 kg, and the research equipment to add another 200-300 kg to this. The satellite was planned to be put into orbit in 1957-1958.

The Korolev Design Bureau developed several versions of a satellite-laboratory weighing up to 1300 kg. However, it soon became obvious that due to the difficulties in manufacturing reliable scientific equipment, it would not be possible to complete the creation of the satellite in time. Then Korolev proposed instead of a complex laboratory to launch a simple satellite into space - otherwise the USSR risked losing the launch championship. The proposal was approved.

There were disputes about what the first satellite of the Earth should have a shape. "A ball and only a ball!" Korolev insisted.

By September 1957, the satellite had already passed the final tests on a vibration stand and in a heat chamber.

The satellite, modestly named PS-1 ("The Simplest Satellite-1"), eventually received the shape of a ball with a diameter of 58 cm and a weight of 83.6 kg. This form allowed the most complete use of its internal space. The sealed case was made of aluminum alloys, radio equipment and silver-zinc batteries were placed inside, designed for 2-3 weeks. Before launch, the satellite was filled with nitrogen gas.

Two radio transmitters with a power of 1 W were installed on the satellite, emitting signals at a wavelength of 15 and 7.5 m. Four rod antennas 2.4-2.9 m long were located on the outer surface. The signal duration was 0.3 seconds, reception was possible at a distance of up to 10 thousand km.

And at the Tyura-Tam test site, the future Baikonur cosmodrome, in the meantime, test launches of the Seven were carried out.

In September, a rocket designed to launch a satellite arrived at the test site. It was seven tons lighter than the standard ones - the designers replaced the head part with a transition to the satellite, abandoned the equipment of radio control systems, and simplified the automatic shutdown of the engines.

On October 2, Korolev signed an order for flight tests of the PS-1 and sent a notification of readiness to Moscow, but received no response instructions. Then he independently decided to put the rocket with the satellite on the starting position.

Winners are not judged

On October 4, 1957 at 22:28 Moscow time, humanity entered a new space era. From the range, the carrier rocket rushed into the night sky, for the first time developing the first cosmic speed and putting the first artificial Earth satellite into orbit.

The satellite signal was received by radio amateurs around the world.

Even on the first orbit, a message was sounded: "As a result of the great hard work of research institutes and design bureaus, the world's first artificial satellite of the Earth has been created."

“After the first enthusiasm, when the “BIP-BIP-BIP” signals that became immediately known to all mankind were received at the test site, and, finally, the telemetry was processed, it turned out that the rocket had launched “on the eyebrows,” Chertok recalled. - The engine of the side block "G" entered the mode with a delay, that is, less than a second before the control time. If it were delayed a little more, the circuit would automatically “reset” the setting and the start would be canceled. Moreover, at the 16th second of the flight, the tank emptying control system failed. This led to an increased consumption of kerosene and the engine of the central unit was turned off a second earlier than the calculated value. There were other problems as well. If a little more and the first cosmic speed could not be achieved. But the winners are judged! Great things have happened!”

The orbital period of the satellite around the Earth was about 96 minutes. He stayed in earth orbit until January 4, 1958, having completed 1440 orbits.

In addition to checking the decisions made for the launch and studying the operating conditions of the equipment, the objectives of the launch also included ionospheric studies of the passage of radio waves emitted by satellite transmitters and experimental determination of the density of the upper atmosphere by satellite deceleration. The collected data were of high scientific value, in particular, the results of measuring the density of the high layers of the atmosphere made it possible to create a theory of satellite deceleration.

“The world was literally stunned! Sputnik changed the political balance of power. The US Secretary of Defense declared: "Victory in the war with the USSR is no longer achievable." By replacing the thermonuclear hydrogen bomb with a small satellite, we won a huge political and social victory,” said Chertok.

At the recent International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Professor Robert Thomas, environmental adviser to the government of South Australia, told a Gazeta.Ru correspondent about his childhood impressions of the flight of the first satellite.

“In 1957 I was 7 years old. We lived in the suburbs of Adelaide and that night with friends lay on our backs in the yard of my house. We knew about its flight, because by that time newspapers had already written about it.

I was amazed by what I saw, the satellite was fantastic for us, it was an incredible event for us, especially at that age.

Then I was still too young to be interested in science, but the satellite opened my eyes to space, stars and the universe. I began to observe objects that move in the sky.

My father was an engineer, and we were both passionate about the satellite, from him I inherited a craving for the study of the world around us. The second impression for me was the flight in 1961, when I was 12 years old, and I also remember this event. We said: “Wow! It's unbelievable, man, Russian in space. Then we witnessed the Apollo missions and the landing of man on the moon. And now I believe that cooperation in space is one of the best ways to improve relations between countries.”

By the way, the launch of the satellite coincided with the opening of the International Astronautical Congress, which was held in 1957 in Barcelona. It was there that Academician Leonid announced the launch of the satellite into orbit. Since the names of the leaders of the Soviet space program were classified, it was Sedov who became the "father of Sputnik" in the eyes of the world community.

On November 3, 1957, Sputnik 2 was launched, carrying the first living creature launched into space, the dog Laika.

Alas, Laika died due to an error in calculating the area of ​​the satellite and the lack of a thermal control system - the temperature in the cabin rose to 40 ° C, and the dog died from overheating.

In parallel with the USSR, the United States was also developing a satellite. Vanguard TV3 was launched on December 6, 1957, but two seconds later the rocket lost thrust due to the explosion of fuel tanks. The satellite was damaged and was no longer usable. In the press, he was mockingly nicknamed "flopnik", "kaputnik" and "upsnik" - by analogy with the word "satellite", which, after the launch of PS-1, quickly entered the languages ​​of the world.

Today, there are more than three thousand satellites in Earth's orbit, most of which, however, are no longer working. More than 2/3 of them belong to Russia and the USA.

On October 4, 1957, the first artificial Earth satellite was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Its mass was only 83.6 kg, and the maximum diameter was 0.58 m. However, the value of that launch cannot be measured - neither in kilograms, nor in meters. That day the space age began!

The satellite emitted radio waves at two frequencies, which made it possible to study the upper layers of the ionosphere. But it had even not so much scientific as political significance. It was after October 4 that it became clear that nuclear strikes with the help of rocket technology could be delivered anywhere in the world. The quantitative superiority of the Americans in the field of nuclear weapons no longer played a decisive role. And this circumstance changed the whole system of international relations.

The first satellite flew 92 days and made 1440 revolutions around the Earth. In total, he "wound" in orbit about 60 million km. By the way, at first they thought about launching a heavy satellite with a number of scientific instruments - object D. However, the work was delayed, and after weighing everything, the designers decided not to rush with the "heavyweight", but to develop the simplest option: a device with two radio beacons. Moreover, the range of transmitters was chosen such that even radio amateurs could monitor the satellite.

In the United States, the news of the launch of a Soviet satellite had the effect of an exploding bomb: the Pentagon, which advocated a policy of "balancing on the brink of war," shocked the very fact that the Soviet Union had created a multi-stage intercontinental missile, against which air defense was powerless. The Russians challenged science, industry and military power, they said across the ocean. Indeed, the Americans managed to launch their first satellite weighing only 8.3 kg only on February 1, 1958.

At that time, many did not fully realize the huge economic opportunities that the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite opened up. Now, according to NASA, the volume of information received from geostationary satellites, daily is equivalent to 1.5 million books of 300 pages each.

Speculation about the first satellite of the Earth

As Oleg Ivanovsky, the deputy chief designer of the first and second artificial Earth satellites, the chief designer of the first Vostok spacecraft-satellites, the creator of automatic interplanetary stations, Oleg Ivanovsky, told the RG correspondent, there were enough tales:

It’s even funny - you have to invent so much! - said Oleg Genrikhovich. - For example, in one seemingly solid book it is written: supposedly in order for the first satellite to be detected from the Earth, its surface was made almost mirror-like and even gilded. Yes, nothing like that! The satellite was processed in a completely different way - electrochemical polishing.

When it was published: here, they say, a satellite is flying, look - it was also a lie. Because no one could see the satellite with the naked eye. The asterisk, which many observed, was only the central block of the rocket. And this is a colossus of 7 tons, and in no way 83,6 kg of a "ball". The block was seen because it also became a satellite until it burned out.

But is it true that the first satellite still had problems: antenna antennas flew off? - asked the correspondent of "RG".

Also nonsense, - Ivnovsky laughed. - Even if they had fallen off, no one would have known about it. Moreover, there was also "information": supposedly a fire broke out at the start and the first satellite burned down!