Sputnik’s Golden Anniversary

From NSDLWiki

Fifty years ago, the Soviet Union launched its “prosteishy sputnik,” or “simplest satellite.” It weighed about 80kg and looked like a silver beach ball with whiskers. Sputnik stayed in Earth’s orbit from October 4 to October 26, 1957, sending back a signal to announce that the space age had begun. It was a cute little orb, and it still works in the classroom as a way of raising all sorts of issues – from the birth of space exploration to the cold war and the engineering and physics of space flight. Here are some of our favorite NSDL resources that blast off from Sputnik’s legacy.

One-Stop Soviet Space Shop
http://www.russianspaceweb.com The most comprehensive resource on Sputnik is RussianSpaceWeb, an independent site maintained by journalist Anatoly Zak that is also the best resource on Russia’s space program. SpaceWeb’s Sputnik materials include technical descriptions, first-person accounts from Russian scientists, accounts of the political impact in the USSR, and much more.

Online Timeline
http://www.teachersdomain.org Free registration is required to see the resources maintained by Teachers Domain, but it’s well worth the small inconvenience to gain access to this rich source of clips from public television programs, lesson plans, background essays, and other high-quality goodies all pre-mixed for classroom use. Enter “Robotic Exploration of Space Timeline” in the search box to view an online timeline of aerospace landmarks from 1903 to the present day. This is a Flash Interactive presentation based on information from the website of NASA’s Joint Propulstio Labooratory.

How it Worked, What It Did
http://www.engineeringpathway.com Type “Sputnik” into the search box of Engineering Pathway and 25 excellent results appear, with an emphasis on the satellite’s mechanical workings and its impact on science in the U.S. and Russia. A highlight is “Korolev, Sputnik, and The International Geophysical Year,” a paper by Asif A. Siddiqi posted on NASA’s history website. The paper shows how the launch sparked huge increases in science funding and enrollment in both countries. Type “Aerospace Engineering” in the search box to broaden the lesson with resources on aircraft dynamics, or a simulation of gas turbines.

The U.S. Response
http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200709281 Many interesting Sputnik links can be found on the web page of the NPR talk show “Science Friday,” which devoted an hour to Sputnik’s 50th anniversary on September 28. Go here for a selection of American reactions to Sputnik, including a contemporary newsreel, recollections of longtime NASA journalist Jay Barbree, and discussions of the launch’s impact on science education.

An Appreciation
http://history.nasa.gov/sp4107.pdf Sputnik “hit this country like a flying sledge hammer,” writes NASA scientist Homer Hickham, who grew up dreaming about space travel in a small West Virginia town. Hickham’s eloquent speech on the history and future of the space program was a highlight of a May 2001 NASA symposium, the proceedings of which are titled “Looking Backward, Looking Forward.”

The Sound of Sputnik
http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik NASA’s sputnik history page includes a recording of the sound the satellite made as it orbited the earth. Its distant high-pitched “beep” sounds eager and friendly, more like a high school science project than a threat to national security.