Today marks the 50th anniversary of the first artificial satellite placed into Earth orbit. On Oct. 4, 1957, atop a rocket named Old Number Seven, Sputnik 1 left a launchpad in the Kazakh Republic of the former Soviet Union. The Space Age was born.
In conjunction with the International Geophysical Year, a weeklong schedule of scientific meetings concluded that night with a reception at the Soviet Union Embassy in Washington, D.C. Invited guests expected an ordinary evening typical of the Cold War period with a mix of scientists, press and covert operatives. Instead, as word about Sputnik’s successful launch filtered through the crowd, it became clear that the significance of the day’s events would change the world forever.
The United States was working on a program for a satellite launch planned for early 1958, but the Soviet accomplishment caught the American government and public completely by surprise.
Sputnik 1 weighed 184 pounds and was about the size of a basketball. Traveling at 18,000 mph, Sputnik circled the globe every 96 minutes at an altitude of about 500 miles. Its path above Earth carried it over the United States seven times a day. With its battery- powered radio transmitter emitting a distinct pattern of beeps, the satellite was picked up on the shortwave band by ham-radio operators, scientists and other listeners around the world. Sputnikwas an easy visual target as it moved across the evening sky. Many gazed upward to witness a small pinpoint of light that, even though it appeared so tiny and distant, held enormous promise for the future.
Tempered by a sense of fascination and wonder, the early hours and days of the Space Age were riddled with anxiety bordering on hysteria. If the Soviets could launch such a large payload, what else could they send over our skies? On Oct. 5, NBC radio broke into coverage of the World Series to rebroadcast the signal of Sputnik with the announcer saying “Listen now for the sound that forevermore separates the old from the new — a chirping from outer space.” The American public was startled in a way that hadn’t been felt since news broke of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
With more than 6,000 satellites in Earth orbit today, the fuss surrounding Sputnik 1 might seem far removed from our daily experience. But, the dawn of the space age brought about a revolution in technology, science and education. Since then, we have benefited from advances in satellite-based navigation, reconnaissance, communications, weather modeling and forecasting. Human and robotic spaceflight missions have become proven methods for expanding knowledge of our place in the universe. What marvels will the next 50 years bring?
Peter Lipscomb is director of the Night Sky Program for the New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance. To learn more about how to protect and preserve the aesthetic, cultural and scientific value of the night sky contact him at plipscomb@nmheritage.org.
