Sputnik

Sputnik 1

On October 4, 1957 at 19H28 UTC  UTC is a time scale between International Atomic Time TAI, stable but disconnected from the Earth's rotation and universal time UT, directly linked to the rotation of the Earth and then slowly variable. The "coordinated" indicates that UTC is in fact identical to TAI (it has the stability and accuracy) to a whole number of seconds by which it can stick to UT to 0.9 s around. It is this notation that is used by ISO 8601. , Semiorka a rocket took off from Baikonur, carrying a small aluminum sphere 58 centimeters in diameter, weighing 83.6 kilograms and equipped with four antennas is Sputnik 1. Sputnik orbits the Earth in 97 minutes, the sphere is filled with inert gas (nitrogen), equipped with a transmitter and a battery giving it 21 days autonomy. The communication system is able to transmit pressure and temperature of nitrogen to test the principles of pressurization and temperature control used.
The study of these signals would also allow to study wave propagation in the atmosphere.
Both transmitters were sufficiently powerful to allow amateurs to capture the "beep-beep" of the satellite around the world.
The study of the trajectory of the satellite should provide information on the density of the upper atmosphere and on the exact shape of the Earth.
Electrical appliances satellite operated for three weeks.
It disintegrates in the atmosphere, 92 days after its launch January 4, 1958. The origins of the program are the policies and soldiers who wanted Soviet intercontinental missiles as part of their confrontation with the West.

Making an achievement in science allowed them to double the United States who were about to launch a satellite within the framework of the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958.

Image: listening to the beep. Sputnik 1 (Спутник 1 "companion" in Russian), launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakhstan), October 4, 1957 at 19h28 by the USSR, is the first artificial satellite of humanity.

Sputnik 2

Launched November 3, 1957, Sputnik 2, a satellite of 500 kg was taken to space the first living being, the dog Laika. It was shaped like a cone of 4 m in height with a base of 2 m in diameter.
It consisted of different compartments for electrical appliances, a spherical capsule identical to that of Sputnik 1, and a pressurized cabin, scheduled to host the dog Laika.
This car was equipped with sensors to measure temperature and ambient pressure, and to monitor blood pressure, respiration and heart beat of the dog.
A camera also allowed to monitor the animal from Earth. In the spherical capsule, were a radio transmitter and two spectrometers to measure the ultraviolet and X-rays emitted by the Sun.
The spacecraft was not separated from its booster rocket causing a system failure of temperature control, which caused the death of Laika, about 7 hours after launch.

Scientists and the U.S. military are in shock following the announcement, which calls into question their predominance in science.
The U.S. military warned by their radars became aware that the orbit was proof that the USSR was able to carry a nuclear weapon and strike the U.S. mainland.
This rocket was also clearly visible to the naked eye, unlike Sputnik 1 that required optical power to be observed.

Image: This challenge prompted the United States to give the starting signal of a long adventure, the conquest of space.

10 satellites Sputnik

The USSR launched a total of ten satellites Sputnik, between 1957 and 1961.
The last Sputnik 10 was launched March 25, 1961 from Baikonur, the fifth and final flight test program for the Vostok (spaceflight).
This craft was carrying a dummy and the dog Zvezdochka.
His return, after 101 minutes of flight and 17 orbital revolutions, is a success.
This makes the first successful manned flight by a human being and it takes place April 12, 1961 with the famous orbital flight of Yuri Gagarin.

The delay of the United States in the field of aerospace, the date of the end of the Second World War.
Nazi Germany had attempted with varying degrees of success to develop missiles (the V-2 being the best known).

Image: Sputnik 3

Years Sputnik

In the late fifties, in Turin, the brothers Achille and Giovanni Battista Judica-Cordiglia young amateur enthusiasts are busy around a material they have essentially made themselves and play to capture the signals from the cosmos. Thus October 4, 1957, they intercepted the beep-beep of Sputnik into orbit. A month later, they hear the beating heart of the first living creature sent into space, the little Russian dog Laika. Both DIY engineering are soon witness the most unexpected developments of the great space race brought the time of the Cold War.
While neither of the two superpowers can not imagine that mere amateurs capture frequencies top secret, February 4, 1961, several weeks before the historic mission of Yuri Gagarin, the brothers Judica-Cordiglia perceive the sound of heavy breathing, accompanied of rapid heart beats. A Russian cosmonaut would have known it before Gagarin into space in a mission he would never come back?

On May 16, 1961, another record is puzzling that a conversation between a Russian cosmonaut and station control. Horrified by the increasing heat, the woman asks for instructions, then nothing. What happened?
These extraordinary indices were collected in the "space station plays" Torre Bert, a makeshift establishment in the country of Turin by the two Italians.
They succeeded in capturing, through their ingenuity alone, also the first U.S. orbital flight in 1962 made by John Glenn, one of fifteen Soviet missions, that of Yuri Gagarin, but also a number of secret missions.
The reputation of this incredible private space center will reach the ears of the Soviets, who try to intimidate the two brothers. NASA will be amazed to see that these handymen had located all their launch bases...

Image: The brothers Achille and Giovanni Battista Judica-Cordiglia, young Italian amateur radio enthusiasts.