Project 3

Transcript

00:00

October 4, 1957

00:00

Russia, Baikonur

00:03

A rocket was launched into space with the means to make history.

00:08

This was the first rocket that wasn't designed for war but space

00:08

Russian scientists discovered that they could take a rocket designed by Nazi Germany and send it to space.

00:17

This rocket was a 1 RD-108 that was derived from an Intercontinental ballistic missile

00:17

And was 98.4 ft tall, 9.8 ft in diameter and weighed 589,000 lbs

00:33

The sputnik 1 was a 58.0 cm-diameter aluminum sphere that carried four whip-like antennas that were 2.4-2.9 m long

00:33

This rocket carried the sputnik 1, the first satellite to be sent to space.

00:48

The sputnik 1 received data relating to the density of the upper layers of the atmosphere and the propagation of radio signals in the ionosphere

01:00

The ionosphere is the layer of the earth's atmosphere that contains a high concentration of ions and free electrons and is able to reflect radio waves

01:15

How does the sputnik work?

01:15

instruments and electric power sources were housed in a sealed capsule and included transmitters operated at 20.005 and 40.002 MHz.

01:27

These transmitters emitted every .3 seconds making a beeping sound that scanned data for the telemetry measuring temperature

01:37

Even though this was something small that just measured temperature and the ionosphere, it still affected major world events

01:49

At the time the united states and the ussr were in a cold war

01:49

They were on the edge of nuclear war and both countries were suspicious about the other

01:58

Once the U.S. got word of this satellite that "Spied" on people in the U.S. it sparked the Space Race

02:08

The Space Race united the country and the goal was to beat the USSR in getting to the moon

02:18

The sputnik 1 soon led to the sputnik 2, which was an attempt to send Laika, a dog, to space

02:18

All future advancements that attempted to travel in space, sparked from the sputnik 1, which united the U.S. and  advanced us to the moon

02:33

sputnik 1

02:34

The spark for greatness