Sputnik 50th Anniversary

[p38arover]

It's the 50th Anniversary of the launch of the Russian Sputnik 1 satellite - the first man-made sateliite of the earth.

I must be getting old - I remember its launch being announced. :eek:

11 years later I worked on a satellite communications station - it was the new technology.

A year after that, I worked at a satellite station that was a TTC&M station (satellite Tracking, Telemetry, Control & Monitoring) where we tracked and controlled the satellite during the launch and through its subsequent life.

Now satellite comms is old hat and not used on major telecomms routes.

....... and I've almost become a Luddite. :)

Ron

[Quiggers]

Did you ever work with Ian Mackenzie, Ron?

GQ

[p38arover]

Did you ever work with Ian Mackenzie, Ron?

I can't place him.

Ron

[Quiggers]

No worries Ron, just an old mate who spent much time in the early 70s at a little satcom site south of Canberra...;)

I'd really like to write a book (or two) one day, about the people I've met, worked with etc,
there are some truly fascinating stories about... the movie 'the dish' addressed a few,
but so many Aussies have worked on so many amazing 'stellar' projects....

..in his later life, I worked with a cine camera man, Ron Lowe, who during the 60s,
shot much of the footage of the Blue Streak launches (and other devices) at Woomera...

...then there were the comms guys who were based at Antarctica...
I knew of one who took his '58 VW there...

GQ

[p38arover]

No worries Ron, just an old mate who spent much time in the early 70s at a little satcom site south of Canberra...;)

I'd really like to write a book (or two) one day, about the people I've met, worked with etc,
there are some truly fascinating stories about... the movie 'the dish' addressed a few,
but so many Aussies have worked on so many amazing 'stellar' projects....

..in his later life, I worked with a cine camera man, Ron Lowe, who during the 60s,
shot much of the footage of the Blue Streak launches (and other devices) at Woomera...

...then there were the comms guys who were based at Antarctica...
I knew of one who took his '58 VW there...

GQ

Ahh. I worked for OTC, not the govt. Re Antarctica, a lot of OTC guys went down there as radio ops.

Ron

[shinz]

It's the 50th Anniversary of the launch of the Russian Sputnik 1 satellite - the first man-made sateliite of the earth.

I must be getting old - I remember its launch being announced. :eek:

Ron

I have a very early memory of standing outside with my family in the dark craning up to see a "star" moving over. It was Sputnik, I was 2 1/2 approx. Aaaah! The olden days:D
Steve.

[Redback]

JJJ interviewed one of the aust scientists that was tracking it way back then at Melbourne Uni yesterday.

How things have improved.

Baz.

[vnx205]

It's the 50th Anniversary of the launch of the Russian Sputnik 1 satellite - the first man-made sateliite of the earth.

I must be getting old - I remember its launch being announced.
Ron
As I was 11 at the time, I remember it well and I also remember the way it was seen as evidence that Russia was ahead of America in the space race and that consequently we should all be worried. I seem to remember that it was at about this time I read articles in American magazines about how US schools were failing and how the maths curriculum needed to be revised to catch up to the Russians.
Remember the icecreams on a stick called Sputniks - vaguely rocket shaped and chocolate coated?

[waynep]

Am I correct in understanding that Sputnik was not a true comms/repeater satellite in that it only transmitted it's own internally generated signal. It did not receive signals from earth and then re-transmit them.
it was purely to prove that the Russians could put a satellite in orbit before the Yanks.

[vnx205]

Am I correct in understanding that Sputnik was not a true comms/repeater satellite in that it only transmitted it's own internally generated signal. It did not receive signals from earth and then re-transmit them.
it was purely to prove that the Russians could put a satellite in orbit before the Yanks.
I'm pretty sure that is right.
All it did was beep so that it could be tracked.

[Redback]

Am I correct in understanding that Sputnik was not a true comms/repeater satellite in that it only transmitted it's own internally generated signal. It did not receive signals from earth and then re-transmit them.
it was purely to prove that the Russians could put a satellite in orbit before the Yanks.

From what i was told it was controlled from the ground, so yes it could receive and transmit, and NO nothing to do with the space race or the Americans.

Well not according to the scientist interviewed on JJJ.

Baz.

[numpty]

I think it surprised a hell of a lot of people, especially Americans, that the Russians were that capable.

[drivesafe]

Actually, as far as the space race goes, in every single advancement made during the space race, the Russians did it first, with two exceptions.

The obvious, the yanks got to the moon first.

And a piece of history not that well known and if the yanks have there way, will stay unknown.

Although the Russians are accepted to have to have put the first man made object into space, Sputnik, the reality is that the yanks beat them by about 8 months.

The yanks managed to put a cast iron manhole into to space, but not just into orbit. It was put into space with such force that it left earth’s orbit and has left the solar system by now.

How this came about is that during the cold war, many different nuclear tests were carried out and one that the yanks did, involved boring a very deep hole and placing a nuclear device in the hole.

As a lark, someone decided to put a cast iron manhole cover in the hole.

When the bomb was detonated, the manhole cover was blown into space.

Doctor Karl has this story in one of his many books.