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| Saint Francis of Assisi's church, Poble Nou |
The Grandma went to a Franciscan school when she was young and she remembers this day singing and praying to Saint Francis, to the animals and to the sun. It was a real nightmare for a child. But today, The Grandma wants to congratulate all people who celebrate their day, especially Paqui Jones and Paqui Bean.
Franciscus means the Frenchman and it is widely used in most Romance languages, including Italian, Catalan, French, Occitan and Castilian, and place of origin is Italy. It is derived from the same source as the female name Frances, and the male names Francesco, Francesc, Francis and Francisco.
The Grandma is going to visit the Saint Francis of Assisi's church in El Poble Nou, Barcelona, where she has a meeting with Joseph de Ca'th Lon who is going to explain her one of the most interesting things that happened on a day like today in 1957: the Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, was launched.
During the travel by urban bus, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her First Certificate Language Practice manual (Chapter 36).
More information: Travel and holidays
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957, orbiting for three weeks before its batteries died, then silently for two more months before falling back into the atmosphere.
It was a 58 cm diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. Its radio signal was easily detectable even by radio amateurs, and the 65° inclination and duration of its orbit made its flight path cover virtually the entire inhabited Earth. This surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the Cold War. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments.
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| A Soviet scientist works in the Sputnik 1 |
Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No.1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR, now known as the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The satellite travelled at about 29,000 kilometres per hour, taking 96.2 minutes to complete each orbit. It transmitted on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz, which were monitored by radio operators throughout the world. The signals continued for 21 days until the transmitter batteries ran out on 26 October 1957.
Sputnik burned up on 4 January 1958 while reentering Earth's atmosphere, after three months, 1440 completed orbits of the Earth, and a distance travelled of about 70 million km.
More information: Russian Space Web
On 17 December 1954, chief Soviet rocket scientist Sergei Korolev proposed a developmental plan for an artificial satellite to Minister of Defence Industry Dimitri Ustinov. Korolev forwarded a report by Mikhail Tikhonravov with an overview of similar projects abroad. Tikhonravov had emphasized that the launch of an orbital satellite was an inevitable stage in the development of rocket technology.
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| Sergei Korolev |
A week later, on 8 August, the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union approved the proposal to create an artificial satellite. On 30 August Vasily Ryabikov, the head of the State Commission on R-7 rocket test launches, held a meeting where Korolev presented calculation data for a spaceflight trajectory to the Moon. They decided to develop a three-stage version of the R-7 rocket for satellite launches.
The control system of the Sputnik rocket was adjusted to an intended orbit of 223 by 1,450 km, with an orbital period of 101.5 min. The trajectory had been calculated earlier by Georgi Grechko, using the USSR Academy of Sciences' mainframe computer.
More information: BBC
The Sputnik rocket was launched on 4 October 1957 at 19:28:34 UTC, 5 October at the launch site, from Site No.1 at NIIP-5. Telemetry indicated that the strap-ons separated 116 seconds into the flight and the core stage engine shut down 295.4 seconds into the flight. At shut down, the 7.5 tonne core stage with PS-1 attached had attained an altitude of 223 km above sea level, a velocity of 7,780 m/s and velocity vector inclination to the local horizon of 0 degrees 24 minutes. This resulted in an initial orbit of 223 kilometres by 950 kilometres, with an apogee approximately 500 kilometres lower than intended, and an inclination of 65.1 degrees and a period of 96.2 minutes.
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| October 4, 1957 when Sputnik 1 was launched |
Two seconds later, the flight control system tried to compensate by rapidly moving the vernier engines and stabilizer fins. The Blok G strap-on finally reached 100% thrust only one second before the pitch angle would have been great enough to trigger an automatic shutdown command, which would have terminated the launch and sent the R-7 and Sputnik 1 crashing to the ground in a fireball only a short distance from the pad.
Sputnik 1 was not immediately used for Soviet propaganda. The Soviets had kept quiet about their earlier accomplishments in rocketry, fearing that it would lead to secrets being revealed and failures being exploited by the West. When the Soviets began using Sputnik in their propaganda, they emphasized pride in the achievement of Soviet technology, arguing that it demonstrated the Soviets' superiority over the West.
People were encouraged to listen to Sputnik's signals on the radio and to look out for Sputnik in the night sky. While Sputnik itself had been highly polished, its small size made it barely visible to the naked eye. What most watchers actually saw was the much more visible 26 meter core stage of the R-7.
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| Sputnik 1 |
Initially U.S. President Eisenhower was not surprised by Sputnik 1. He had been forewarned of the R-7's capabilities by information derived from U-2 spy plane overflight photos, as well as signals and telemetry intercepts. The Eisenhower administration's first response was low-key and almost dismissive. Eisenhower was even pleased that the USSR, not the U.S., would be the first to test the waters of the still-uncertain legal status of orbital satellite overflights.
Eisenhower had suffered the Soviet protests and shoot-downs of Project Genetrix (Moby Dick) balloons and was concerned about the probability of a U-2 being shot down. To set a precedent for freedom of space before the launch of America's secret WS-117L spy satellites, the U.S. had launched Project Vanguard as its own civilian satellite entry for the International Geophysical Year.
Eisenhower greatly underestimated the reaction of the American public, who were shocked by the launch of Sputnik and by the televised failure of the Vanguard Test Vehicle 3 launch attempt. The sense of fear was inflamed by Democratic politicians and professional cold warriors, who portrayed the United States as woefully behind.
More information: National Archives
The launching of the first two Soviet Sputniks has already thrown
a sturdy bridge from the earth into space,
and the way to the stars is open.
Sergei Korolev
