1957:
Sputnik Model

"The first artificial earth satellite in the world has now been created. … Its flight will be observed in the rays of the rising and setting sun with the aid of the simplest optical instruments such as binoculars and spyglasses."

Sputnik, launched by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on October 4, 1957, marked a simple, yet profound event in history: the placement of the first human-made satellite into Earth orbit. Since that October date, Sputnik has possessed a dual identity, as an icon of technological achievement and as the starting point for a Cold War Space Race.

As significant icon, known throughout the world, Sputnik the object seems small and unimpressive. About the size of a beach ball, at 58 centimeters (23 inches) in diameter, the satellite operated on a single watt of power provided by three silver-zinc batteries. These batteries powered the satellite’s most famous feature, a 0.4-second "beep" produced on two radio frequencies, heard by amateur radio operators throughout the world. The sphere weighed 83 kilograms (183 pounds) on Earth and had an exterior of aluminum alloy 2 millimeters (.1 inch) thick, polished to a high sheen, which facilitated visual tracking via telescope. On the satellite’s exterior, four antennae, positioned symmetrically, swept back at 35-degree angles. On Earth, the design conveyed an image of flying through space in a single, purposeful direction. In reality, the satellite did not glide through space — it tumbled.

Sputnik functioned for 21 days, emitting its "beep," until its batteries depleted. It continued in orbit for more than two additional months, burning up on reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere on January 4, 1958.

Sputnik was the brainchild of two men: Sergei Korolev, a rocket engineer who managed the development of the first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and the first decade of Soviet spaceflight, and Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Sputnik, though, was not Korolev and Khrushchev’s first choice for a satellite. The original plan called for a satellite carrying scientific instruments to investigate conditions above the Earth’s atmosphere to coincide with the International Geophysical Year (IGY). But design of this satellite did not match the rapid development of the USSR’s newest weapon, the R-7, the world’s first successful ICBM.

Sputnik coverage actually predated its launch, and may have predated the physical existence of the object itself. During the summer of 1957, a series of articles and announcements about plans for a Soviet satellite launch during the IGY appeared in the widely read journal Radio. In an announcement on July 7, 1957, the Soviet Academy of Sciences made an open call for international assistance in tracking a satellite by amateur radio enthusiasts, to prepare for "the reception of signals of satellites launched in the USSR." These announcements worked — at Sputnik’s launch, amateurs worldwide played a crucial role in documenting the Soviet achievement.

In the years after Sputnik, Soviet officials distributed display models of the satellite throughout the world — including the Sputnik model that hangs in the Museum, which was sent by the Soviet Academy of Sciences in 1976. This model contains no instruments or working parts, nor any indication of its provenance. The Museum displays the last surviving piece of Sputnik — the arming pin, a small square of metal with a pull-ring that separated the batteries from transmitters, removed just prior to launch.