What are some interesting facts about Sputnik I?

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1. dogsafire says

   This should help:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1

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2. life says

   The Sputnik program was a series of unmanned space missions launched by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s to demonstrate the viability of artificial satellites. The Russian name “Спутник” means literally “traveling companion”. The Russian pronunciation is [ˈsputʲnʲɪk] or spoot’-neek with spoot like boot, but the usual pronunciation in English is /ˈspʊtnɪk/, / ˈspʌtnɪk/ or sputt’-nick with sputt like nut.

   All Sputniks were carried to orbit by the R-7 launch vehicle, originally designed to carry nuclear warheads.

   [edit] Impact
   The surprise launch of Sputnik 1, coupled with the spectacular failure of the first two Project Vanguard launch attempts, shocked the United States, which responded with a number of early satellite launches, including Explorer I, Project SCORE, Advanced Research Projects Agency and Courier 1B. Sputnik also led to the creation of NASA and major increases in U.S. Government spending on scientific research and education. See: Sputnik crisis.

   The launch of Sputnik 1 inspired writer Herb Caen to coin the term “beatnik” in an article about the Beat Generation in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 2, 1958.[citation needed]

   [edit] Early flights
   Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 184 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes.

   Sputnik 2 was launched on November 3, 1957 and carried the first living passenger, a dog named Laika. The mission planners did not provide for the safe return of the spacecraft or its passenger, making Laika the first space casualty.

   The first attempt to launch Sputnik 3, on February 3, 1958, failed, but the second on May 15 succeeded, and it carried a large array of instruments for geophysical research. Its tape recorder failed, however, making it unable to measure the Van Allen radiation belts.

   Sputnik 4 was launched two years later, on May 15, 1960.

   Sputnik 5 was launched on August 19, 1960 with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of plants on board. The spacecraft returned to earth the next day and all animals were recovered safely.

   [edit] Other Sputnik designations
   A variety of Venera, Vostok, Voskhod, Kosmos and other classes of Soviet spacecraft were referred to as Sputniks by American observers, although none of these were actually named “Sputnik” by the Soviet Union. Sputnik 25, for example, was an attempted Luna probe

   [edit] Sputnik 40 and Sputnik 41
   Sputnik 40, also called Sputnik PS2, Radio Sputnik 17 (RS-17) and Mini-Sputnik, was a ⅓-scale model amateur radio satellite launched from the Mir space station on 3 November 1997 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Sputnik 1. The spacecraft body resembled Sputnik 1 and was built by students at the Polytechnic Laboratory of Nalchik in Kabardino-Balkaria. The transmitter was built by students from Jules Reydellet College in Réunion, with technical support from AMSAT-France. Its batteries expired on 29 December 1997 and the VHF transmitter fell silent.[1][2][3] Its international designator is 1997-058C, United States Space Command object 24958.[4]

   Sputnik 41 (RS-18, designator 1998-62C, object 25533[5]) was launched a year later, on 10 November 1998. It also carried a transmitter.

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3. ZeroByte says

   Sputnik 2 was the first launch of an earth being into orbit. This was the dog, Laika (which means "barker"). Laika was a stray caught on the streets of Moscow. Laika's trip was a 1-way ticket to space, as designed.

   The huge success of Sputnik 1 put the US into a panic and the USSR in the lead of the space race. Not content to rest on their laurels, almost immediately after Sputnik 1, Khrushchev ordered another launch for Nov 7, the anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution. The mission designers did not have time to design and build the complicated sattellite they were planning, so they quickly designed the capsule to launch animals into space. They just didn't have time to design one that could reliably protect them, not to mention bring them back safely.

   Laika died a few hours after launch due to heat and stress. This fact has only come out more recently. Prior, it was thought that Laika had survived until the life support batteries failed. Sputnik 2 continued to orbit for weeks after her death, eventually burning up in the atmosphere on Apr 04, 1958.

   Russia's first space dogs to survive orbit went up on Sputnik 5. Their names are Belka (squirrel) and Strelka (little arrow). Belka is preserved, encased in glass at the Memorial Museum of Astronautics in Moscow, while Strelka is stuffed and has been a part of a travelling space exhibit that has been all over the world.

   Sputnik 5 also included several mice and plants. Together, these were the first living things from earth to go into orbit and return safely again.

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