Re: New meaning of the term "Sputnik"

["M. Edward (Ed) Borasky" <znmeb@...>]

On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 2:50 PM, Leo Razoumov <slonik.az@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 11:50 PM, Yuri Takhteyev <yuri@sims.berkeley.edu> wrote:
>> When Korolev's team finally got around
>> to building one, they called it "Prosteishii sputnik 1" - "Basic
>> satellite 1".
>
> It is summer time (in the Northern hemisphere) and some people might
> have spare time while on vacation.
> A good book on the history of the Russian Space Program was translated
> in English and is available at Amazon for $1.99/volume
>
> Boris Chertok "Rockets and People - Volume I [Kindle Edition]" for $1.99
> http://www.amazon.com/Rockets-People-Volume-I-ebook/dp/B0075GLYQG/
> There are also volumes 2,3 and 4.
>
> The whole Sputnik 1 launch was very ad-hoc and to a some degree an act
> of desperation. The previous tests revealed that the military payload
> that R-7 ICBMs were supposed to carry was disintegrating on reentry
> into dense atmosphere. To buy time to redesign the payload shield and
> to deflect the criticism Sergey Korolev decided to try payload that
> only goes up and does not need to get down. The rest is the History...
>
> --Leo--
>

So the Russians were desperate too? Who knew? ;-) It was absolute
chaos here in the USA after the first failed Vanguard launch. For once
in our history, Congress actually took positive action!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Education_Act

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