The first satellite in space. The first artificial satellite of the Earth. Reference. How the satellite was delivered into orbit

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”, “Exploration of world spaces using jet instruments.” This and his other works anticipated the advent 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-fuel missiles and aircraft boosters, and the first domestic liquid engines, were developed in laboratories of the USSR. In 1933, the first rocket in the USSR with a liquid rocket engine, GIRD-09, was launched. Ballistic and cruise missiles for various purposes, solid fuel and liquid engines were also developed and tested.

Scientists and inventors who spent years creating jet-powered rockets saw space exploration as the ultimate goal of their work.

The designer, an associate, said back in the 1930s: “All work in the field of rocket technology, without exception, ultimately 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 flight range of up to 320 km, which became the first object to make a suborbital space flight.

On its basis, a number of Soviet missiles were subsequently created and put into service under the leadership of Korolev. In 1954, development of the R-7 rocket began, the flight range of which was up to 9,500 km. The Seven became the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile to successfully undergo testing and deliver a warhead to an intercontinental range.

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

— noted design scientist Boris Chertok.

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

Only the ball!

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

“The modern 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 task 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 can also be solved when launching from Earth.”

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

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

There were debates about what shape the first satellite of the Earth should have. “The ball and only the ball!” - Korolev insisted.

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

The satellite, modestly named PS-1 (“The Simplest Satellite-1”), ultimately took the form of a ball with a diameter of 58 cm and a weight of 83.6 kg. This form made it possible to make full use of its internal space. The sealed case was made of aluminum alloys; radio equipment and silver-zinc batteries, designed for 2-3 weeks, were placed inside. 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 wavelengths of 15 and 7.5 m. On the outer surface there were four rod antennas 2.4-2.9 m long. The signal duration was 0.3 seconds, reception was possible at a distance of up to 10 thousand km.

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

In September, a rocket intended to launch a satellite arrived at the test site. It was seven tons lighter than the standard ones - the designers replaced the head section with a satellite adapter, abandoned the radio control system equipment, and simplified the automatic engine shutdown.

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 place the rocket with the satellite at the launch position.

Winners are not judged

On October 4, 1957 at 22:28 Moscow time, humanity entered a new space age. From the test site, the launch vehicle rushed into the night sky, reaching escape velocity for the first time and launching the first artificial Earth satellite into orbit.

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

Even on the first orbit, the message was heard: “As a result of a lot of hard work by research institutes and design bureaus, the world’s first artificial Earth satellite was created.”

“After the first delight, when the test site received the “BIP-BIP-BIP” signals, which immediately became known to all mankind, and finally processed the telemetry, it turned out that the rocket launched “on the brink,” Chertok recalled. - The engine of the side block “G” entered the mode late, that is, less than a second before the control time. If he had been delayed a little more, the circuit would have automatically “reset” the installation and the start would have been cancelled. Moreover, at the 16th second of the flight, the tank emptying control system failed. This led to increased kerosene consumption and the engine of the central unit was turned off a second earlier than the calculated value. There were other problems too. If it had been a little longer, the first escape velocity might not have been achieved. But the winners are judged! Great things have happened!”

The satellite's orbital period around the Earth was about 96 minutes. He remained in Earth orbit until January 4, 1958, completing 1,440 orbits.

In addition to checking the decisions made for the launch and studying the operating conditions of the equipment, the launch objectives also included ionospheric studies of the passage of radio waves emitted by the satellite's transmitters and an experimental determination of the density of the upper layers of the atmosphere by braking the satellite. The collected data was 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 braking.

“The world was literally stunned! Sputnik changed the political balance of power. The US Secretary of Defense said: “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,” Chertok said.

At the recent International Astronautics Congress in Adelaide, Professor Robert Thomas, adviser to the South Australian government on environmental issues, 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 my friends and I were lying on our backs in my front yard. 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.

I was still too young to be interested in science then, but Sputnik opened my eyes to space, the stars and the universe. I started observing objects that were moving in the sky.

My father was an engineer, and we were both passionate about satellites, and from him I inherited a passion for studying 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! This is incredible, a Russian man 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 Congress on Astronautics, 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 satellite's area 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 the satellite. Avangard TV3 was launched on December 6, 1957, but within two seconds the rocket lost thrust due to the explosion of its fuel tanks. The satellite was damaged and could not be used further. In the press, he was mockingly nicknamed “flopnik”, “kaputnik” and “oopsnik” - 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, no longer work. More than 2/3 of them belong to Russia and the USA.

The development of technological progress occurs at such a pace that the most outstanding scientific achievements quickly become commonplace and cease to amaze.

Space exploration was no exception. Almost 6 decades separate us from the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite (RS-1). Let's remember how it was. Let's find out how far science has advanced in this area.

How it was

By the mid-60s of the last century In the USSR, a powerful group of like-minded people was formed who were engaged in practical astronautics. Led the group.

It was decided to begin the first steps into space with the launch of an artificial Earth satellite. Wherein the following tasks were set:

• checking all theoretical calculations;
• collecting information about the operating conditions of the equipment;
• study of the upper layers of the ionosphere and atmosphere.

To carry out the required amount of research The satellite, 58 cm in diameter, housed special equipment and power supplies. To maintain a constant temperature, its internal cavity was filled with nitrogen, which was driven by special fans. The total weight of the first spacecraft was 83.6 kg. Its sealed body was made of a special aluminum alloy, and the polished surface underwent special treatment.

Four rod antennas with a length of 2.4 to 2.9 m, installed on the outer surface of the satellite, were pressed against the body during the launch of the device into orbit.

How a missile range became a cosmodrome

To launch the RS-1 satellite it was it was decided to use a military training ground in the Kazakhstan desert. The decisive factor in choosing the location was its proximity to the equator. This made it possible to make maximum use of the Earth's rotation speed during launch. And its remoteness from Moscow made it possible to maintain a regime of secrecy.

It was at the Baikonur military training ground that the space gates first opened and the first artificial earth satellite was launched. "Sputnik-1" launched October 4, 1957 at 22:28 Moscow time. During 92 days of operation in low-Earth orbit, it completed about one and a half thousand revolutions around the Earth. For two weeks, his “beep-beep-beep” signals were received not only at the mission control center, but also by radio amateurs around the world.

How the satellite was delivered into orbit

To launch the first Soviet satellite it was used a two-stage intercontinental missile R-7, which was developed as a carrier for the hydrogen bomb.

After some modifications to its design and several tests, it became clear that it would cope with the task of launching a satellite into a given orbit.

The satellite was placed at the head of the rocket. Its launch was carried out strictly vertically. Then the rocket axis was gradually deviated from the vertical. When the rocket speed was close to the first escape velocity, the first stage separated. The further flight of the rocket was now ensured by the second stage, which increased its speed to 18-20 thousand km/h. When the rocket reached the highest point of its orbit, the satellite separated from the launch vehicle.

His further the movement occurred by inertia.

Physical basis of satellite flight

For a body to become an artificial satellite, two basic conditions must be met:

• communicating to the body a horizontal speed of 7.8 km/sec (first cosmic speed) to overcome earth's gravity;
• moving it from dense layers of the atmosphere to very rarefied ones that do not offer resistance to movement.

Having reached escape velocity, the satellite rotates around the planet in a circular orbit.

If its rotation period is 24 hours, then the satellite will rotate synchronously with the Earth, as if hovering over the same area of ​​the planet. Such an orbit is called geostationary, and its radius, at a given speed of the device, should be six times the radius of the Earth. As the speed increases up to 11.2 km/sec, the orbit becomes increasingly elongated, turning into an ellipse. It was in this orbit that the first brainchild of Soviet cosmonautics moved. At the same time, the Earth was at one of the foci of this ellipse. The greatest distance of the satellite from the Earth was 900 km.

But in the process of movement, it still plunged into the upper layers of the atmosphere, slowed down, gradually approaching the Earth. In the end, due to air resistance it heated up and burned in the dense layers of the atmosphere.

60-year history of satellite launches

The launch and flight of this tiny silver ball at such a considerable distance from the Earth was a triumph of Soviet science for that period. This was followed by a number of more launches, which pursued mainly military purposes. They performed reconnaissance functions and were part of navigation and communication systems.

Modern workers of the starry sky perform a huge amount of work for the benefit of humanity. In addition to satellites intended for defense purposes, the following are in demand:

• Communications satellites (repeaters), providing stable, weather-independent communications over a large area of ​​the planet.
• Navigation satellites, serving to determine the coordinates and speed of all types of transport and determine the exact time.
• Satellites, allowing you to photograph areas of the earth's surface.“Space” photographs are in demand by many ground-based services (forestors, ecologists, meteorologists, etc.); they are used to create extremely accurate maps of any part of the planet.
• The “scientist” satellites are platforms for testing new ideas and technologies, tools for obtaining unique scientific information.

The manufacture, launch and maintenance of spacecraft requires enormous expenses, so international projects began to appear. One of them INMASART system, providing ships on the high seas with stable communications. It was thanks to her that many ships and human lives were saved.

Look at the night sky

At night, among the diamond scattering of stars, you can see bright, non-blinking luminous points. If they, moving in a straight line, fly across the entire sky in 5-10 minutes, then you have seen a satellite. Only fairly large satellites, at least 600 m in length, can be observed with the naked eye. They are visible only when they reflect sunlight.

Such objects include international space station (ISS). You can see it twice in one night. It first moves from the southeastern part of the sky to the northeast. After about 8 hours, it appears in the northwest and disappears behind the southeastern part of the horizon. The best time to observe it is June–July - an hour after sunset and 40–60 minutes before the sunrise.

As you follow the luminous point with your gaze, remember how much effort and knowledge was invested in this miracle of technical thought, what courage the people working on board the orbital station have.

If this message was useful to you, I would be glad to see you

Day of the beginning of the space age of mankind (October 4, 1957); proclaimed by the International Astronautical Federation in September 1967 (on this day the world's first artificial Earth satellite was successfully launched in the USSR)

On October 4, 1957, the world's first artificial Earth satellite was launched into low-Earth orbit, ushering in the space age in human history. The satellite, which became the first artificial celestial body, was launched into orbit by the R-7 launch vehicle from the 5th research site of the USSR Ministry of Defense, which later received the open name of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The PS-1 spacecraft (the simplest satellite-1) was a ball with a diameter of 58 centimeters, weighed 83.6 kilograms, and was equipped with four pin antennas 2.4 and 2.9 meters long for transmitting signals from battery-powered transmitters. 295 seconds after launch, PS-1 and the central block of the rocket, weighing 7.5 tons, were launched into an elliptical orbit with an altitude of 947 km at apogee and 288 km at perigee. At 315 seconds after launch, the satellite separated from the second stage of the launch vehicle, and its call signs were immediately heard by the whole world. The PS-1 satellite flew for 92 days, until January 4, 1958, completing 1,440 revolutions around the Earth (about 60 million km), and its radio transmitters operated for two weeks after launch. The United States was able to repeat the success of the USSR only on February 1, 1958, launching on the second attempt the Explorer 1 satellite, weighing 10 times less than the first satellite. Scientists M.V. worked on the creation of an artificial Earth satellite, led by the founder of practical cosmonautics S.P. Korolev. Keldysh, M.K. Tikhonravov, N.S. Lidorenko, V.I. Lapko, B.S. Chekunov and many others.

The formation of the rocket and space industry and technology in our country practically began in the spring of 1946. It was then that research institutes, design bureaus, testing centers and factories for the development and production of long-range ballistic missiles were formed. Then NII-88 (later OKB-1, TsKBM, NPO Energia, RSC Energia) appeared - the main institute in the country's jet weapons, headed by S.P. Korolev. Together with the chief designers - on rocket engines, control systems, command instruments, radio systems, launch complexes, etc., S.P. Korolev supervised the creation of rocket and space systems that ensured the first and subsequent flights of automatic and manned vehicles. In a short historical period, a powerful industry was created in the country to produce a wide variety of rocket and space technology. Thousands of devices for various purposes were designed, built and sent into space, and a huge amount of work was done to study outer space. Launch vehicles “Zenit”, “Proton”, “Cosmos”, “Molniya”, “Cyclone” launched scientific research, applied, meteorological, navigation, and military satellites “Electron”, “Gorizont”, “Start” into space orbit. , “Cosmos”, “Resource”, “Gals”, “Forecast”, communication satellites “Ekran”, “Molniya” and others. Unique work was done by automatic spacecraft during flights to the Moon, Mars, Venus, and Halley's Comet.

While developing long-range ballistic missiles and especially the R-7 intercontinental missile, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev constantly returned to the idea of ​​practical space exploration. His dream was taking on real shape and was close to being realized. Meetings held by S.P. The Queen and the country's leading scientists in various fields of science, especially geophysics and astronomy, identified the main tasks of research in outer space. On March 16, 1954, a meeting was held with Academician M.V. Keldysh, where the range of scientific problems solved with the help of artificial Earth satellites was defined. The President of the USSR Academy of Sciences A.N. was informed about these plans. Nesmeyanova.

May 27, 1954 S.P. Korolev turned to D.F. Ustinov with a proposal to develop an artificial satellite and sent him a memorandum “On an artificial Earth satellite” prepared by M.K. Tikhonravov, which gave a detailed overview of the state of work on artificial satellites abroad. At the same time, the fundamental idea was expressed that “AES is an inevitable stage in the development of rocket technology, after which interplanetary communications will become possible.” Attention was drawn to the fact that over the past two or three years the attention of the foreign press to the problem of creating satellites and interplanetary communications has increased. The initiators of work on artificial satellites also cared about communicating the necessary information on this matter to other decision-makers, since issues of priority should be the main argument for the entire subsequent period of development of astronautics. In August 1954, the Council of Ministers of the USSR approved the proposals presented by V.A. Malyshev, B.L. Vannikov, M.V. Khrunichev K.N. Rudnev proposals for the study of scientific and theoretical issues related to space flight.

Among the initiators of raising the issue of artificial satellites, confidence gradually matured that it would be possible to achieve a positive solution. At the direction of S.P. Korolev, OKB-1 employee I.V. Lavrov prepared proposals for organizing work on space objects. A memorandum on this topic, dated June 16, 1955, contained numerous notes from S.P. Korolev, which allow us to judge his attitude to individual provisions of the document.

Of great importance for a positive resolution of the issue was the meeting on August 30, 1955 with the chairman of the military-industrial complex V.M. Ryabikova. S.P. Korolev went to a meeting with B.M. Ryabikov with new proposals. On his instructions, the head of the OKB-1 sector, E.F. Ryazanov prepared data on the parameters of the spacecraft for the flight to the Moon. For this, two versions of the third stage of the R-7 rocket were proposed with the fuel components oxygen - kerosene and fluorine monoxide - ethylamines. The device delivered to the Moon was supposed to have a mass of 400 kg in the first version and 800-1000 kg in the second. M.V. Keldysh supported the idea of ​​​​creating a three-stage rocket for lunar exploration, but engineer-Colonel A.G. Mrykin expressed concern that the development deadlines for the R-7 rocket would be missed and that the development of the satellite would distract attention from the main work, and proposed postponing the creation of the satellite until testing of the R-7 rocket was completed. The resolution on work on artificial satellites was adopted on January 30, 1956. This Resolution provided for the creation in 1957-1958 and launching by a rocket of the R-7 type of an unoriented artificial satellite (object D) weighing 1000-1400 kg with equipment for scientific research weighing 200-300 kg.

By the same Decree, general scientific management and provision of equipment for research were entrusted to the USSR Academy of Sciences; the creation of artificial satellites as a special carrier of equipment for scientific research - to the Ministry of Defense Industry (the main executor of OKB-1); development of a control system complex, radio equipment and telemetry systems - to the Ministry of Radio Engineering Industry; the creation of gyroscopic devices - to the Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry; development of a complex of ground-based launching, refueling and handling equipment - for the Ministry of Mechanical Engineering; launches are carried out by the Ministry of Defense.

The development of the preliminary design of the satellite was entrusted to the design department headed by S.S. Kryukov; M.K. became the scientific consultant. Tikhonravov, Sector E.F. worked on the preliminary design. Ryazanov as part of I.V. Lavrova, V.V. Molodtsova, V.I. Petrova, N.P. Kutyrkina, A.M. Sidorova, L.N. Soldatova, M.S. Floriansky, N.P. Belousova, V.V. Noskova et al.

By July 1956, the preliminary design was ready. Relevant projects have been developed by related organizations. By the time the project was completed, the composition of the scientific problems solved by the satellite had been determined, which formed the ideological basis of the new development. By the end of 1956, it became clear that there was a real threat of disruption to the planned plans to launch type D satellites due to the difficulties of creating scientific equipment and the lower specific thrust impulse in the void of the R-7 rocket engines (304 instead of 309-310 kgf-s/kg project). The government set a new launch date of April 1958. In this regard, OKB-1 made a proposal to launch a simple satellite weighing about 100 kg in April - May 1957, before the start of the International Geophysical Year (July 1957). In connection with the new proposal of OKB-1, on February 15, 1957, a Resolution was adopted providing for the launch of the simplest unoriented Earth satellite (PS object) into orbit, testing the possibility of observing the PS in orbit and receiving signals transmitted from the PS object. It was planned to launch two satellites using two R-7 (8K71) missiles. The launch of satellites was allowed only after one or two launches of the R-7 rocket with positive results.

The simplest satellite PS-1 was a spherical container with a diameter of 580 mm. Its hull consisted of two half-shells with connecting frames, connected to each other by 36 bolts. The tightness of the joint was ensured by a rubber gasket. After assembly, the container was filled with dried nitrogen to a pressure of 1.3 kgf/cm. In the upper half-shell there were two antennas 2.4 m long and two 3.9 m long, as well as a spring mechanism that moved the pins to an angle of 35° from the longitudinal axis of the container. The antennas were developed by the laboratory of M.V. Krayushkina.

The outside of the upper half-shell was covered with a protective screen, and on its inner surface there was a bracket for mounting the radio transmitter (developed by V.I. Lappo from NII-885, chief designer M.S. Ryazansky). The power supply unit, consisting of three batteries based on silver-zinc elements, was created at the Institute of Current Sources under the leadership of N.S. Lidorenko. The PS-1 equipment also included a remote switch, a fan of the thermal control system, a dual thermal relay and control thermo- and barorelays,

A radio transmitter with a power of 1 W periodically emitted signals lasting 0.4 s alternately at waves of 7.5 and 15 m. The duration of the signals changed when the temperature increased (above 50 ° C) or decreased (below 0 ° C) and when the pressure dropped below 0.35 kgf/cm due to the activation of one of the control thermo- or barorelays. The temperature in PS-1 was maintained by a fan activated by a thermorelay at temperatures above 23°C. The power supplies were designed to operate continuously for two weeks. The total mass of the PS-1 was 83.6 kg. A special transition compartment was provided for docking the PS-1 with the rocket. The separation system ensured the release of the head fairing and separation of the satellite from the central block of the rocket.

The work of production workers and designers in the manufacture of the first artificial satellite was carried out simultaneously due to very tight deadlines. The main difficulty was in the manufacture of spherical half-shells using hydraulic drawing, welding them with the frame and polishing the outer surfaces: not even the slightest scratch was allowed on them, welding of seams must be airtight and controlled X-ray, and the tightness of the assembled container was checked with a PTI-4 helium leak detector.

During the experimental testing of the satellite, mock-up of the placement of on-board equipment, cable network and mechanisms was carried out; checking the satellite for leaks after its assembly using a helium leak detector; testing the processes of dropping the nose fairing and separating the satellite from the launch vehicle (the prototype satellite was repeatedly docked and undocked from the launch vehicle with the simultaneous release of the nose fairing); study of the thermal regime in order to determine the real temperatures of the satellite. Experimental testing of the satellite confirmed the high reliability of its design and equipment, which made it possible to make a decision on its launch. The preparation of the satellite for flight at the test site was carried out in the installation and testing building of the technical position of the launch vehicle, where a special workplace was organized for this purpose. All satellite systems were tested for functionality.

The preparation of the 8K71PS rocket at the technical position was carried out under special control and supervision, with special attention paid to monitoring the correctness of the commands for dropping the nose fairing and separating the satellite.

The launch of the rocket with the first artificial Earth satellite was carried out in accordance with the “Program of test launches of the simplest non-oriented satellites (PS object) using the 8K71PS product”, approved by D.F., Ustinov, V.D. Kalmykov, A.N. Nesmeyanov, V.M., Ryabikov, M.I. Nedeliny. The launch of the 8K71PS launch vehicle No. M1-PS with the first satellite took place on October 4, 1957 at 22:28 Moscow time (this was the fifth launch of the R-7 rocket). The second stage of the rocket with the satellite entered orbit with a perigee of 228 and an apogee of 947 km and a time of one revolution around the Earth of 96.2 minutes. The satellite separated from the second stage of the launch vehicle at 315 seconds after launch.

"Rocket and Space Corporation "Energia" named after S.P. Korolev”, RSC Energia Publishing House, 1996.

At the beginning of 1957, S.P. Korolev turned to the government with a request for permission to speed up the preparation and conduct of the first launches of two rockets to launch artificial Earth satellites into orbit. At the same time, it was indicated that a launch vehicle for an artificial Earth satellite with a satellite mass of about 1200 kg was being developed on the basis of an intercontinental rocket. At the same time, in the United States, very intensive preparations were underway for the launch of satellites under the Avangard project. The American satellite was supposed to be a spherical container with a diameter of 50 cm and a mass of about 10 kg.

In the USSR, work to prepare for the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite was in full swing. Half a month before the opening of the space age of mankind, at a ceremonial meeting dedicated to the centenary of the birth of K. E. Tsiolkovsky, S. P. Korolev made a report in which he said: “The Soviet Union successfully tested an ultra-long-range intercontinental multistage ballistic missile. The results obtained show that it is possible to launch rockets to any region of the globe. In the near future, the first test launches of artificial Earth satellites will be carried out in the USSR and the USA for scientific purposes."

Back in the spring of 1957, S.P. Korolev decided to focus the design bureau’s attention on the development of a satellite, called the simplest, without stopping work on the initial design of the device, which then became the third to enter orbit around the Earth.

Although the satellite was called the simplest, it was created for the first time; there were no analogues in technology. Only one thing was set - a weight limit (no more than 100 kg). Quite quickly, the designers came to the conclusion that it would be advantageous to make it in the shape of a ball. The spherical shape made it possible to make full use of the internal volume with a smaller shell surface.

They decided to place two radio transmitters inside the satellite with a radiation frequency of 20.005 and 40.002 MHz. Receiving their signals would allow scientists to study the conditions for the passage of radio waves from space to Earth. In addition, it was necessary to transmit information about the pressure and temperature inside the satellite.

Design was carried out at a rapid pace, and the production of parts proceeded in parallel with the release of drawings.

The preparation of the rocket, which later became known as Sputnik, required a lot of attention and effort. It was necessary to ensure the placement of the satellite. To do this, it was necessary to make a transition compartment and a head fairing. We have developed a special system for separating the body of the rocket and the satellite. It is very difficult to test this system in ground conditions. Nevertheless, special equipment and devices were created that to some extent imitated future conditions. The “double” of the satellite was repeatedly docked and separated from the rocket body until they were convinced that the entire chain was operating reliably: the pneumatic locks were activated, the head fairing was separated, the antenna pins were released from the “stowed” position, and the pusher directed the satellite forward.

The satellite was made as simple and reliable as possible and nevertheless made it possible to conduct a whole range of scientific research. The spherical shape of the body contributed to the most accurate determination of the density of the atmosphere at very high altitudes, where scientific measurements had not yet been carried out. The body was made of aluminum alloy, and the surface was specially polished to better reflect sunlight and provide the necessary thermal conditions for the satellite.

The satellite's radio transmitting device was supposed to have a radiation power of 1 W. This made it possible to receive its signals over considerable distances by a wide range of radio amateurs in the short and ultra-short waves, as well as by ground-based tracking stations. As a result, it was expected to obtain a large amount of statistical data on the propagation of radio waves through the ionosphere during a sufficiently long flight.

The satellite signals took the form of telegraphic messages lasting about 0.3 seconds. When one of the transmitters was working, the other had a pause. The estimated time of continuous operation was at least 14 days.

Antennas in the form of four rods up to 2.9 m long were installed on the outer surface of the satellite. After being launched into orbit, the antennas took up their working position.

The satellite was unoriented, and this four-armed system gave almost uniform radiation in all directions to eliminate the influence of its rotation on the intensity of received radio signals.

The power supply for the satellite's onboard equipment was provided by electrochemical current sources (silver-zinc batteries), designed to operate for at least 2 - 3 weeks.

Inside the satellite was filled with nitrogen. The temperature inside was maintained within 20-30° C using forced ventilation based on signals from temperature sensors.

The first, simplest satellite could not yet be equipped with a special radio telemetry system. Experts could judge changes in temperature and pressure by changes in the frequency of telegraph messages and the relationship between their duration.

At dawn on October 3, 1957, the rocket, docked with the satellite, was carefully removed from the installation and testing building. Walking nearby were the creators of the world's first space complex. At the launch position, the installer's powerful boom raised the rocket vertically. And then fuel from railway tanks began to be pumped into rocket tanks.

After refueling, the rocket weighed 267 tons. And the bulk of the rocket before launch was amazingly beautiful. She sparkled all over, covered with frost.

On October 4, 1957, at 22:28 Moscow time, a bright burst of light illuminated the night steppe, and the rocket went up with a roar. Her torch gradually weakened and soon became indistinguishable against the background of the heavenly bodies.

The first cosmic velocity, calculated by Newton, now, three centuries later, was first achieved by the creation of the mind and hands of man.

After the satellite separated from the last stage of the rocket, transmitters began to operate and the famous “Beep...beep...beep” signals went on the air. Observations on the first orbits showed that the satellite entered orbit with an inclination of 65°6", an altitude at perigee of 228 km and a maximum distance from the Earth's surface of 947 km. For each orbit around the Earth it spent 96 minutes 10.2 s. In 1 hour 46 min On October 5, 1957, the satellite passed over Moscow.

This small man-made star seemed to lift the ruby ​​stars of the Kremlin into orbit and made the successes of our country visible to the whole world.

The Russian word “sputnik” immediately entered the languages ​​of all peoples of the world. The full houses on the front pages of foreign newspapers in those historic October days of 1957 were full of admiration for the feat of our country. “The greatest sensation of the century”, “The cherished dream of humanity brought to life”, “The Soviets opened a window to the Universe”, “This great victory is a turning point in the history of civilization”, “It is already clear that October 4, 1957 will forever go down in the annals of history " - these are some of the headlines in the world press at that time.

It became clear to the whole world that the success of the Soviet Union was not accidental: achievements in space are a mirror of its grandiose creative work on Earth. In the United States, militaristic psychosis has been replaced by a sober understanding of the significance of our successes in space exploration. There they realized that the USSR owed its space takeoff primarily to a broad democratic education system that allowed any capable person to rise to the heights of knowledge. They realized that Soviet space technology grew on a powerful foundation of developed science, technology and industry. All the fabrications about Russia’s “weakness” appeared in their true light. And this sobering played a huge political role. Soviet satellites caused the weakening of the Cold War and essentially became the prologue to the policy of détente.

People began to realize that humanity has one single home, one planet, and there is a goal that can unite all peoples - the study of the Earth for the benefit of all people. Outer space became an arena for scientific cooperation, and world science was enriched with new invaluable data. Soviet scientists generously shared their results with specialists from all countries.

Thanks to the first Soviet satellites, world science was enriched with new knowledge of enormous fundamental importance about the upper layers of the earth's atmosphere and outer space. Laika's flight did not reveal any insurmountable physiological obstacles to the life of living beings in orbit. In fact, a serious step was taken then towards human space flight.

The first satellite in the history of mankind existed as a cosmic body for a relatively short time - 92 days, having completed 1440 revolutions around the Earth. For 21 days, signals from the first man-made “Moon” were coming from space. But their “echo” can still be heard to this day. After all, this was the beginning of a great era of practical space exploration.

When the 25th anniversary of the launch of the first satellite was celebrated, the President of the International Astronautical Federation, Czechoslovakian professor L. Perek, wrote in the Izvestia newspaper: “The first satellite changed life on our planet. Just as mighty rivers are born from one stream, so the first satellite led to the birth of a mighty rivers of practical applications in various fields of human activity, leading to a paradoxical change in many scientific concepts." Italian professor L. Napolitano said that in our time the launch of the first satellite means about the same as for the Middle Ages the discovery of America by Columbus. The then President of the International Astronautical Academy, American Charles Draper, emphasized: “... figuratively, we can say that the entire huge family of modern spacecraft was carried into orbit by the hand by the first Soviet satellite.”

“Cosmonautics of the USSR”, M.: Mechanical Engineering, Planet, 1986.

Mikhail Klavdievich Tikhonravov was a man of incredible curiosity. Mathematics and many engineering disciplines, which he mastered at the Academy. N. E. Zhukovsky did not dry up his romantic passion and penchant for fantastic thoughts. He painted landscapes in oils, collected woodcutter beetles, and studied the dynamics of insect flight, secretly hoping to discover in the beating of tiny wings some new principle for designing incredible aircraft. He liked to mathematize dreams, and he received, perhaps, equal pleasure when calculations showed their reality, and when, on the contrary, they led to absurdity: he loved to find out. One day Tikhonravov decided to shortchange the artificial Earth satellite. Of course, he read Tsiolkovsky and knew that a single-stage rocket would not be able to put a satellite into orbit, he carefully studied his “Space Rocket Trains”, “The Highest Speed ​​of a Rocket” and other works in which the idea of ​​a multi-stage rocket was first theoretically substantiated, but he was interested in estimating various options for connecting these stages, see what all this adds up to on a scale, in short - decide how realistic the very idea of ​​​​obtaining the first cosmic speed needed by a satellite is at the current level of development of rocket technology. I started counting and became seriously interested. The defense research institute in which Mikhail Klavdievich worked was engaged in things incomparably more serious than an artificial Earth satellite, but to the credit of his boss, Alexei Ivanovich Nesterenko, all this unscheduled semi-fantastic work at the institute was not only not persecuted, but, on the contrary, was encouraged and supported by him, although it was not advertised in order to avoid accusations of project-making. Tikhonravov and a small group of his equally enthusiastic employees in 1947-1948, without any computers, did colossal calculation work and proved that there really is a real version of such a rocket package, which, in principle, can accelerate a certain load to the first cosmic speed.

In June 1948, the Academy of Artillery Sciences was preparing to hold a scientific session, and the institute where Tikhonravov worked received a paper asking what reports the research institute could present. Tikhonravov decided to report the results of his calculations on the satellite - an artificial Earth satellite. No one actively objected, but the topic of the report still sounded so strange, if not outlandish, that they decided to consult with the president of the artillery academy, Anatoly Arkadyevich Blagonravov.

Completely gray-haired at 54 years old, a handsome, exquisitely polite academician in the uniform of an artillery lieutenant general, surrounded by several of his closest employees, listened to the small delegation from the NIH very carefully. He understood that Mikhail Klavdievich’s calculations were correct, that all this was not Jules Verne or Herbert Wells, but he also understood something else: such a report would not grace the scientific session of the Artillery Academy.

“It’s an interesting question,” Anatoly Arkadyevich said in a tired, colorless voice, “but we won’t be able to include your report.” They will hardly understand us... They will accuse us of doing the wrong thing...

The people in uniform sitting around the president nodded in agreement.

When the small delegation of the research institute left, Blagonravov experienced some kind of mental discomfort. He worked a lot with the military and learned from them the generally useful rule of not revising decisions made, but then again and again he returned to Tikhonravov’s report and at home in the evening he thought about it again, he could not get rid of the thought that this report was frivolous really serious.

Tikhonravov was a real researcher and a good engineer, but he was not a fighter. The AAN president's refusal upset him. At the research institute, its young employees, who had remained silent in the president’s office, now raised a clamor, in which, however, new serious arguments in favor of their report flashed.

Why were you silent there? - Mikhail Klavdievich got angry.

We must go again and persuade the general! - the youth decided.

And the next day they went again. There was an impression that Blagonravov seemed delighted at their arrival. He smiled and listened to the new arguments with half an ear. Then he said:

OK then. We will include the report in the session plan. Get ready - we'll blush together...

Then there was a report, and after the report, as Blagonravov expected, one very serious man of considerable rank asked Anatoly Arkadyevich, as if in passing, looking over his interlocutor’s head:

The institute probably has nothing to do, and that’s why you decided to move into the field of science fiction...

There were plenty of ironic smiles. But there were not only smiles. Sergei Korolev approached Tikhonravov without a smile and said, sternly speaking in his manner:

We need to have a serious conversation...

They met in the summer of 1927 on Mount Uzyn-Syrt near Koktebel during the fourth all-Union rally of glider pilots, and became friends at the GIRD, in the basement on Sadovo-Spasskaya. Then their paths diverged... And now they meet again...

Korolev understood the importance of what Tikhonravov had done; a year later his own work would be published: “Principles and methods of designing long-range missiles,” in which he also analyzes various options for multi-stage “packages.” But Korolev was a great realist and psychologist. He understood that the technical difficulties of creating a space rocket package were, of course, great, although surmountable, but he also understood something else: if he started work now, these difficulties would increase hundreds of times and become insurmountable, since we were not psychologically prepared for the satellite. The Cold War will freeze such a project in its tracks. We cannot talk about any satellite until there is a missile capable of stopping the atomic blackmail of the Americans. He began developing the R-3 rocket with a flight range of three thousand kilometers. This is a lot, but it is still very little...

We quickly agreed with Tikhonravov: to continue the work. Soon, Mikhail Klavdievich analyzed the two-stage package and proved that a fairly heavy satellite could be launched into orbit. Korolev liked the scheme: it made it possible not to start the engine in emptiness, something that had not yet been learned to do.

In February 1953, the decision was made to create an intercontinental ballistic missile. The speculative schemes of a huge machine were washed through mathematics, and just as something contrasting pops up on a white sheet of photographic paper in a bath of developer, the formulas revealed the contrasts of these schemes, their advantages and disadvantages. Already in May, the first scheme was chosen from the two most promising ones: a two-stage ballistic and a two-stage with a winged second stage, and Korolev began the main work of his life.

A gigantic rocket capable of reaching any point on the globe was needed for the defense of the country. But Korolev immediately understood: it was this rocket that would lift the satellite into space. Tikhonravov is unusually excited: now we are talking about a specific rocket, he knows its real parameters. If you replace the warhead partly with fuel and partly with a satellite, the rocket will pull it into orbit!

Already on May 26, 1954, Korolev wrote to the Council of Ministers of the USSR: “The ongoing development of a new product with a final speed of about 7000 meters per second allows us to talk about the possibility of creating an artificial Earth satellite in the coming years. By slightly reducing the weight of the payload, it will be possible to achieve the final speed of 8000 m/s required for the satellite...” On July 16, M.K. Tikhonravov gives Korolev a memo written jointly with I.V. Lavrov: the satellite can weigh from 1000 to 1400 kilogram! Two weeks later, on July 29, 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower issued a special communique at the White House stating that the United States was preparing to launch an artificial Earth satellite.

The communiqué created a sensation. Although Americans began writing about an artificial Earth satellite in 1946, “Eisenhower’s Moon,” as journalists dubbed the project, was supposed to once again remind the world of the unattainable primacy of American technology. “Bird,” as experts called the project, was supposed to be the great country’s most generous gift to the International Geophysical Year (IGY), which began in July 1957, which was supposed to strengthen in the minds of millions of people the idea of ​​the undisputed leadership of the United States in the entire world community. Then, after the launch of our satellite, Fortune magazine wrote: “We were not expecting the Soviet satellite, and therefore it impressed Eisenhower’s America as a new technical Pearl Harbor.”

Why didn’t they “wait”? Did not know? But just a few days after the White House communiqué, Academician L.I. Sedov, at the sixth congress of the International Astronautical Federation in Copenhagen, told reporters that the Soviet Union was going to launch a satellite, or rather several satellites, during the IGY. “Perhaps our satellites will be created earlier than the American ones and will exceed their weight,” warns the academician. President of the USSR Academy of Sciences A. N. Nesmeyanov confirms: theoretically, the problem of putting a satellite into orbit has been solved. The magazine "Radio" publishes approximate frequencies at which the satellite's transmitter will operate. S.P. Korolev, in his report at the anniversary meeting in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of K. Tsiolkovsky, directly states that Soviet scientists intend to launch a satellite in the near future. And a lot has been written abroad about Soviet satellites. Progressive French science journalist Michel Rouze soberly assessed the situation: “This does not mean that Eisenhower’s Moon will be the first to reach the finish line in a competition with its Soviet and, perhaps, British rivals,” he wrote back in September 1955.

So why didn’t they “wait”? After all, they knew - they heard. Another thing is that they didn’t want to know, didn’t want to hear. Here again an old American disease manifested itself, alas, not cured to this day: to recognize the very possibility of launching Sputnik by the Soviet Union meant taking a step towards understanding the real forces that existed in the world, recognizing one’s own assessments of other states as outdated and in need of revision. To do this was beyond the strength of the owners of “Eisenhower’s Moon”

Meanwhile, time passed, and the affairs with our companion upset and worried the Queen. At first everything went well. On August 30, 1955, in the office of the chief scientific secretary of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences, academician A.V. Topchiev, a high-ranking meeting was held: S.P. Korolev, M.K. Tikhonravov, M.V. Keldysh, V.P. Glushko and other specialists. Korolev reported on the progress of work on the rocket and proposed organizing a commission to develop a satellite launch program and involving leading scientists from the Academy in the creation of equipment.

“I support Sergei Pavlovich’s proposal,” said Keldysh. - It is important to appoint a chairman...

You should be the chairman,” Korolev responded instantly.

The approximate launch date was determined - the summer of 1957, the beginning of the IGY. In two years, it was necessary to develop and manufacture equipment, power supplies, a thermal control system, a radio telemetry system with omnidirectional antennas, a control system for the operation of on-board equipment, and much more. Korolev immediately realized the main danger: dozens of performers were solving a single problem. A failure in one link interrupted the entire chain. The Korolev Design Bureau was responsible for the main thing - the launch vehicle; there was no rocket yet, but this bothered Sergei Pavlovich less than the coordination of all other work. This was probably the first time Korolev was faced with a task of such a scale, the solution of which required not only his will, experience and energy, but also the enthusiasm of many other people, and it was unrealistic to expect equal and necessary enthusiasm from everyone. Keldysh held meetings with “atmospheric scientists” - S. N. Vernov, L. V. Kurnosova, V. I. Krasovsky, attracted his “boys”, specialists in trajectory measurements: D. E. Okhotsimsky, G. M. Eneev, V. . A. Egorova, M. L. Lidov, involved an expert in solar panels in the work N. S. Lidorenko, consulted and consulted with the brightest minds of the Academy... After the launch of the satellite, Keldysh will say: “Each kilogram of the weight of a scientific instrument cost much more than gold, it was worth golden intelligence...” But now, - Korolev saw this clearly, - not only smart consultants, but also fast performers. The schedule for preparation and testing of equipment was constantly disrupted. It was difficult to find the culprits: many of the scientists, highly inventive and original thinking people, turned into mere children when it came to production. Talking with them, Korolev saw that they had little experience in the interaction of science and industry, the deadlines would continue to be missed, and he was very nervous. He sometimes shared his worries with Tikhonravov. Mikhail Klavdievich nodded silently. Korolev regarded his calmness as indifference to his concerns; in any case, it was a complete surprise for him when, at the end of 1956, Tikhonravov suddenly suggested:

What if we make the satellite lighter and simpler? 300 kilograms or even lighter? So we dropped it here... - he held out the notebook.

Korolev quickly assessed the situation: without dampening the Academy of Sciences, a small, simple satellite (in the documentation it was called “PS”) could be made on its own by connecting a minimum number of subcontractors, first of all Nikolai Stepanovich Lidorenko - these are current sources and Mikhail Sergeevich Ryazansky - this radio equipment. Already on January 5, 1957, he sent a memo to the government in which he spoke about the preparation of two satellites: one weighing 40-50 kilograms (he will be the first) and the other - 1200 kilograms (he will be the third) and proposes to prepare the rockets for launch in April - June 1957. Having received the go-ahead, on January 25 he signs the initial data on the PS.

Ten days later, on August 31, having returned to Moscow, Korolev tests the PS together with the launch vehicle, and in early September, together with his designers and testers, the satellite went to the cosmodrome.

I had to talk with many employees of the S.P. Korolev Design Bureau and related specialists about our first satellite. Strange, but he is poorly remembered. The work on the rocket was so great and intense that it obscured this small ball with the “mustache” of antennas in people’s memories. Tikhonravov’s deputy, Evgeny Fedorovich Ryazanov, recalled how Korolev was shown the first sketches of the PS. He didn't like all the options. Ryazanov asked carefully:

Why, Sergei Pavlovich?

Because it's not round! - Korolev answered mysteriously.

The point is not only that a sphere is an ideal shape with maximum volume with a minimum surface. Perhaps unconsciously, intuitively, Sergei Pavlovich strove for the utmost laconicism and expressiveness of the form of this historical apparatus, and indeed now it is difficult to imagine another, more capacious emblem symbolizing the age of space.

Everyone remembers the incident with the report of the leading designer of the satellite, Mikhail Stepanovich Khomyakov, in the office of the Chief Designer. Khomyakov made a mistake and called the satellite not PS, but SP. Korolev stopped him and said with a smile:

You are confusing: SP is me, and satellite is PS! - Sergei Pavlovich knew that behind his back everyone called him by his first and patronymic initials, and was not offended.

Vyacheslav Ivanovich Lappo, designer of the PS radio transmitter, recalls how Korolev came to his laboratory one night and asked him to listen to satellite signals. Lappo explained that the pressure and temperature inside the satellite are controlled by changing the length of the radio transmission. “You see, if anything happens, he will squeak differently before he dies,” Lappo said. The Queen liked it very much. He listened with pleasure to the “beep-beep” signals, and then carefully, even with some timidity, asked:

Is it possible to make him squeak some word?

The pilot plant's production workers also remembered the rocket more than the PS.

For us, from a manufacturing point of view, it was really simple,” recalled chief engineer Viktor Mikhailovich Klyucharev. - Yes, and all our attention at that time was focused on fine-tuning the launch vehicle.

And for the satellite itself, it was difficult to provide a shiny, sun-reflecting surface: at that time there was no special technology for the aluminum alloy from which the body of the first satellite was made. And they overcame it. Everyone who came into contact with the “ball” began to literally carry it in their hands, wearing white gloves, and the equipment on which it was mounted was covered with velvet. Korolev, monitoring all the work on the satellite, demanded special attention to this product.

Yes, Korolev demanded that the satellite’s ball be polished, fearing overheating from the sun’s rays. He did not imagine how much would be reflected in his mirror on October 4, 1957.

The order for flight testing of the PS was signed at the cosmodrome on October 2. The leaders of the test team were Leonid Aleksandrovich Voskresensky - from the Design Bureau and Alexander Ivanovich Nosov - from the rocket scientists. Early in the morning of October 3, the rocket was taken to the launch site. The work went according to schedule, without disruptions.

“Nobody is rushing us,” said Korolev. “If you have even the slightest doubt, we will stop the tests and finalize the satellite.” There's still time...

Did Sergei Pavlovich understand that in these hours the future unwritten, not noted in any instructions, moral and ethical laws of astronautics are laid down? “No, I didn’t think then about the greatness of what was happening: everyone did their job, experiencing both sorrows and joys,” Oleg Genrikhovich Ivanovsky, deputy lead designer of the PS, would write many years later in his book “First Steps.”

The next day after refueling, Korolev called Khomyakov and instructed him to go up to the service farm site and carefully check everything again. According to eyewitnesses, throughout the pre-launch days the Chief Designer was reserved, silent, and rarely smiled. He constantly asked himself questions to which he could not find an answer. He did not know whether the flight path was chosen correctly, where, in fact, the atmosphere ended, where its boundaries were. I didn’t know whether the ionosphere would transmit signals from the radio transmitter. I didn’t know whether the micrometeorites would spare the polished ball. I didn’t know if the sealing would hold up in the vacuum of space. I didn’t know if the ventilation would handle the heat removal. Nowadays, the almost popular expression “flight into the unknown” is often used, sometimes without reason. But it was truly a flight into the absolutely unknown; there has never been anything more unknown in the entire history of mankind.

It was a dead autumn night. The launch site was illuminated by floodlights. It seemed that it was their burning rays that made the rocket smoke slightly - liquid oxygen was steaming. From the observation post it was visible how the white smoke suddenly disappeared: the drainage valves closed and the tanks began to pressurize. And then the darkness trembled, a flame began to flicker somewhere below, flashed for a moment from the concrete channel, clouds of smoke and dust covered the fire-breathing tail of the rocket for a second, but then it broke out and flew upward, flooding the night steppe with light. The satellite was launched on October 4, 1957 at 22:28 Moscow time.

We rejoiced like children, laughed and kissed,” recalled K. D. Bushuev.

The radio station was equipped in a van located about 800 meters from the start. A lot of people crowded into the van, everyone wanted to hear the voice from space. Slava Lappo sat at the receivers and tape recorders, waiting for a signal. And suddenly I heard, first distant, blurry, then increasingly louder, clearer: “beep-beep-beep...” There was a unanimous “Hurray!”, drowning out the joyful voice of Ryazansky, who was shouting over the phone to Korolev in the command bunker: “Yes! There is a signal!

Based on the first orbit, ballistics determined that the satellite was losing little altitude*, but to be on the safe side, the Chairman of the State Commission, Vasily Mikhailovich Ryabikov, decided to wait for the second orbit and then call Moscow to report. Fortunately, it was deep night in Moscow, everyone was sleeping...

*PS existed for 92 days.

No one noticed that it was already quite light. The first morning of the space age of planet Earth had arrived, but she did not know it yet.

Then thousands of articles and entire libraries of books will be written about this night. The launch of the first satellite will be analyzed from all sides: scientific, technical, historical, social, political. It will force you to take a fresh look at many of the problems of our century, from the revision of higher education to the political climate of the entire planet. The American newspaper Washington Evening Star commented on the launch of the first satellite with merciless laconicism: “The era of self-confidence is over.” The French magazine Paris Match stated: “The dogma of the technical superiority of the United States has collapsed.”

But to speak only about the political significance of this start in relation to the events of 1957 would mean to belittle this event. Isn’t it symbolic that the most formidable type of weapon that existed then - a ballistic intercontinental missile, capable of carrying an atomic charge, as soon as it was born, literally in a matter of weeks turns into a powerful instrument of peaceful science? The New York Herald Tribune even seemed to write with surprise then that “despite the obvious psychological victory that the Soviet Union won, this did not lead to an increase in the threat of war.” The launch on October 4, 1957 was the most visual and convincing demonstration of not only the scientific and technical potential of the Soviet Union, but also new proof of its peace-loving policy.

The satellite caused delight among specialists - this is understandable. But the satellite delighted people who were not at all experienced in scientific and technical problems. In a certain man-made object thrown up and not falling back to Earth, people saw a miracle of human thought and labor. Our satellite made all earthlings proud of itself - this is the main result of its triumphant flight over the planet.

Just think how time flies! How far we have already gone along the cosmic road! But no matter how far we go, no matter how small the mirror ball may seem to us from the distance of past years, it will always shine for everyone going to the stars, because we have endowed it with a great quality that cannot be surpassed by anyone, ever: it is the very first !

Moscow. 1987

Yaroslav Golovanov. "A Drop of Our World" (Library of the magazine “Znamya”) - M.: Pravda, 1988. - 464 p. Previously also published on
http://epizodsspace.testpilot.ru/bibl/golovanov/kapli/sam_per.html

Ball like laconic form The design of the first satellite was quite simple. It consisted of a metal ball with a diameter of just over half a meter with four long antennas directed backward relative to the direction of flight. The antennas were located in pairs and at an angle, which ensured uniform distribution of the radio signal in all directions. And this despite the fact that at that time there was no experience in receiving radio transmissions from space.

“I had to talk with many employees of the Sergei Korolev Design Bureau and related specialists,” the famous journalist, writer, and popularizer of the space theme Yaroslav Golovanov later wrote in his book “A Drop of Our World.” - The Queen was shown sketches of the first satellite, but he did not like all the options. They asked carefully, “Why, Sergei Pavlovich?” “Because it’s not round...” Korolev answered mysteriously.

“The fact that the flight of the satellite “blew up” the scientific world is understandable,” Yaroslav Golovanov wrote in the same book “A Drop of Our World.” “But it also delighted people who were not at all experienced in scientific and technical problems.” In a man-made object thrown up and not falling back to Earth, people saw a miracle of human thought and labor. Our satellite made all earthlings proud of itself - this is the main result of that triumphant flight over the planet.”

“The launch of an artificial satellite was of enormous importance for understanding the properties of outer space and studying the Earth as a planet in our solar system,” says Nikolai Kurdyapin, author and creator of the popular astronomy website kosmoved.ru. - Analysis of the received signals gave scientists the opportunity to study the upper layers of the ionosphere, which was not possible before. In addition, information about the operating conditions of the equipment, which was very useful for further launches, was obtained, all calculations were checked, and the density of the upper layers of the atmosphere was determined based on the braking of the satellite.”