ipl-logo

Sputnik Research Paper

609 Words3 Pages

Lily Lenton
Bruhn
Period 3
19 May 2015
Sputnik 1
On October 4, 1957 7:28 PM, the Space Age was started with the Soviet Union’s launch of the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth
The satellite was named Sputnik, which is Russian for “traveling companion of the Earth”
Sputnik was an aluminum sphere with a diameter of 22 inches and it carried four whip-like antennas which were 2.4-2.9 m long. It weighed 184 pounds, and took approximately 96 minutes to orbit the earth on an elliptical path. Traveling at 18,000 miles an hour; its elliptical orbit had a farthest point from Earth of 584 miles and a nearest point of 143 miles.
During the 1950s, both the United States and the Soviet Union were working to develop new technology. Over the decade, the United States tested several types of rockets and missiles, but all of these tests failed.
Officially, Sputnik was launched for the year the International Council of Scientific Unions said would be ideal of launching of satellites to study Earth and the solar system. However, many Americans feared violent uses of the Soviets’ new rocket and satellite technology, which was ahead of the U.S. space effort. Sputnik was about 10 times the size of the planned U.S. satellite, which was not scheduled to be launched until the next year. The …show more content…

According to Russian Space Web, Sputnik was a scaled-back version of the satellite the Soviets had hoped to launch. While the Soviets had plans to put a 2,205 to 3,086 pounds satellite into orbit, they wanted to do it in time for the years of 1957-8, when the United States had stated their goal of launching a satellite themselves. But problems with one of the planned instruments threatened that timeline, so instead the Soviets made a simpler satellite to meet the planned

Show More
Related

Sputnik Debate Summary

432 Words | 2 Pages

• The Survey Research Center found that 6 months before this first launching, half of the American public had never heard of an earth satellite. Fear of Communism • Public opinion demanded federal aid and action in the wake of Sputnik’s launch • Initially people feared the satellite because they didn’t know if the satellite was a weapon of war or a device used to spy on the Americans War with Soviet Union • With launch of Sputnik, President Eisenhower deemed the principle of “freedom of space” o American’s created a top-secret project, CORONA, to create a spy satellites to tell where every Soviet missile was located. • With the launch of Sputnik, the perception of American weakness and complacency was created. • Diplomatically, Sputnik helped realign the United States and Great Britain as allies.

Read More

Dbq Essay Questions

1572 Words | 7 Pages

There was a real concern that the United States was falling behind in the nuclear arena and this led to gaps in what the Soviets had or did not have. These threats were known as the “Bomber Gap” or “Missile Gap.” To counter the uncertainty, Presidents Truman and Eisenhower both supported the creation of the U-2 and Corona/Discoverer satellite programs. On 24 November 1954, Eisenhower gave the go-ahead to build 20 U-2 aircraft.

Read More

How Did Nixon Build Better Relations With The Soviet Union

1278 Words | 6 Pages

During this time the Soviet Union was near the state of strategic parity with the U.S and was on the verge of moving forward with the U.S ICBM launchers. The U.S was

Read More

Soviet Union Dbq Essay

538 Words | 3 Pages

The Soviet Union in 1980 spent 165 billion compare to US who spent 131 billion. The Soviet Union had 1398 missiles while the USA had 1054, the Soviet Union had 950 submarines while the USA had 656 Submarines. the Soviet Union has always been known for being competitive with their military. Document F states that they were first to send a satellite into space, even before the U.S. On October 1957 they sent ‘ Sputnik” the first satellite into space and within 7 years they sent the first dog, woman, and a man into space, before the US.

Read More

How Did Reaganomics Affect The American Economy

1083 Words | 5 Pages

Soon after the Cold War came to an end, the United States and the USSR both began military technological advancements. If the USSR could get missiles into space, they could set them off at anyone anywhere. In the interest of protecting America and possibly the rest of the world, the main objective for the Space Race was to protect us against missiles from the USSR military. These advancements led to a competition between the US and the USSR to see who would be the first to space. America and the USSR were two of the most powerful countries in the entire world at that point in time.

Read More

Harry S. Truman And The Space Race

744 Words | 3 Pages

The Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, and this was atrociously embarrassing for the United States. President Eisenhower refused to be showed up so he invested millions into NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration program. When the United States U2 planes flew over about Soviet Union to spy, many Americans were anxious because they feared it would only worsen the tension of the cold war. One of the U2 planes was shot down and captured. This is only increased the tension, and this incident became known as the U2

Read More

Soviet Union Pros And Cons

732 Words | 3 Pages

The soviet union increased and gained nation upon nation, they conquered nations, until their group grew to fifteen nations. This threatened the US, not only because they were catching up to us in space discoveries, but, because they became a superpower. So, once the US felt threatened enough and they realized the the

Read More

The 1967 Outer Space Race

1312 Words | 6 Pages

The backdrop of the Cold War between the United States and The Soviet Union through the mid-to-late 20th century promoted multiple international policies that reflected the tensions and the hostilities between the bipolar world. The conflicts not only remained on Earth, but what has been termed as a “space race” occurred after the USSR launched the world’s first satellite, Sputnik, into orbit in October 4th, 1957. The politics of space seemed suddenly more vital than it ever had before, and serious political thought was contemplated. What could space have to offer that would benefit for humanity? As the two superpowers competed over the next decade, the questions became more difficult.

Read More

The Impacts Of Sputnik And The Cold War

270 Words | 2 Pages

Sputnik, so far, helped create and introduce new military, political, scientific and technological developments. It’s launch and success had a major impact on the United States as well as the Cold War itself because the United States’ fear of falling behind on the race led to the policymakers of the US to dramatically change and try to advance their weapons and programs. Both countries were discussing about nuclear testing and how there was going to be a treaty that would ban it, but that faded away for a few years. They were researching new technology, trying to achieve more than the other in order to have victory (“Sputnik, 1957”). One of the political impacts was that many people thought the Soviet Union and USSR was technologically uncable

Read More

Space Race Research Paper

963 Words | 4 Pages

The Space Race was an influential time period in American and Soviet history which took place from 1957 to 1975. The event that first triggered the Space Race was when the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite in Space, Sputnik 1, on October 4, 1957. It shocked and struck fear into the whole world especially America since it showed the US public that the Soviet Union was more technologically advanced. Sputnik orbited the earth and transmitted radio signals for only three weeks but still, this was a great accomplishment. In response, America established NASA to compete with Soviet technology.

Read More

Short And Long Term Effects Of The Space Race

1900 Words | 8 Pages

This sparked some fear and excitement in the United States, fear because the Soviets launching Sputnik meant that they could deliver ballistic missiles anywhere in the world and then excitement because this was a huge step forward into crossing the final space frontier. President D. Eisenhower later remarked in a speech he made after the launch of Sputnik, “From what the Soviets say, they have put one small ball in the air.” and “no additional threat to the United States.” About a month

Read More

Nicola Tesla And Voting Machines: Understanding The Black Knight Satellite

1102 Words | 5 Pages

At the current time, due to lack of materials, lack of electronics available, lack of scientist specialized in space exploration, and no country with the capability of polar orbit, at that time, a satellite would have been impossible. Surprisingly, Russia began to think America had launched a satellite into space to spy on other countries, but, regardless of which side, the same problems arise with this conspiracy. Another and more outlandish claim is aliens! Surprisingly, many believed this claim and may have caused some to become avid alien believers. The Black Knight Satellite, not popularized until years later after

Read More

Power Struggle In Vietnam's Nuclear Arms Race

708 Words | 3 Pages

This became a real issue as Krushchev, the Soviet leader used the Soviet space launches as proof that communist ICBMs were powerful and effective. The ICBMs were said to be effective as a rocket powerful enough to carry a payload into orbit was powerful enough to travel a set distance within the globe. This scared Americans as the Soviets had proved that they had the capability to strike American cities from lunch points within the Soviet

Read More

Short And Long Term Effects Of The Cold War

906 Words | 4 Pages

During the Cold War the US and USSR believed they needed to one up each other in technological advances to stay on top, when the USSR launched the world’s first satellite “Sputnik” into orbit in 1957, US citizens became worried that the US was falling behind in space exploration which many saw as the next American frontier. Shortly after this in 1958, NASA was created and launched its own satellite “Explorer I” designed by the US army, a year later, the USSR launched “Luna 2” which was the first space probe to hit the moon. In another big win for the Soviets, in 1961 they launched the first person to orbit the Earth, just a month later the US sent an American into space . Later that month President Kennedy made a bold claim saying that the US would put a man on the moon before the end of the decade, later that year, Project Apollo was put in place. The government upped NASAs budget by nearly 500% in the following years, in 1968 Apollo 8 was launched which orbited the moon, and just a year later Apollo 11 was launched which put the first people on the moon.

Read More

Cold War Social Impact

1800 Words | 8 Pages

The pressure for the United States to be better than the Soviet Union caused the education in the United States to be more focused towards math and science. Maddin says, “Sputnik woke the nation up, serving as a “focusing event” that put a spotlight on a national problem. In this case, he said, the problem was education.” The sputnik launched in 1957 and was the first artificial earth satellite. Marsha Thompson even says, “I believe because of sputnik we came as a country to realize that science, scientist, and engineers would make all the difference in our futures.

Read More

More about Sputnik Research Paper

Related Topics

Open Document