Sputnik Day, 4th October
Posted by Jacques Chester on Wednesday, October 3, 2007
On October 4th, 1957, Sputnik I was launched. It touched off the Cold War era “Space Race”, which has long since burned out. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the launch.
I don’t endorse communism or the former Soviet Union. I do endorse the scientists and engineers who made her orbit the Earth. Well done, and long may you be remembered and honoured.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 7:15 PM and filed under Science.
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Jacques Chester:
Sputnik was launched at the height of The Cold War. I was only young but I can still remember clearly the day the dread news hit the headlines of the newspapers. Now even our own skies had been turned against us; nobody was safe; this was worse than the threat of air-raids during The War.
We should have been trembling in our boots …. and yet we ordinary people, old Aussies and refugees from Communism alike, celebrated the fantastic achievement.
What was wrong with us?
Posted on 03-Oct-07 at 8:22 pm | PermalinkGraham;
I couldn’t say — I wasn’t there. To me it’s an expression of genius, of human spirit, of triumph over technical challenges. It’s tragic that at the time it was all part of the daily drumbeat. Today at least we can admire the act itself, largely free of any other considerations.
Makes me wonder how we will regard the IPCC in 50 years time.
Posted on 03-Oct-07 at 8:28 pm | PermalinkMakes me think we’ll consider the IPCC as the 6th International.
Posted on 03-Oct-07 at 8:42 pm | PermalinkI was at high school at the time. As a bit of a joke, I did a rough model of the Sputnik (from the press picture) using a cork cricket ball and covering it with geometry compasses representing the antennae.
It immediately caught the attention of our science teacher who then waxed eloquently about the immensity of the scientific achievement for just about the rest of the lesson. He was, as far as I knew then, an apolitical conservative. It had nothing to do with the Cold War, which passed unmentioned. It was the scientific challenges that enraptured him, and he spent most of the rest of that lesson explaining how difficult that would have been.
Posted on 04-Oct-07 at 7:59 am | PermalinkI’m sorry, but I just can’t separate the events of the space race from the abuses of the regime.
Technically and logistically awesome, but what a bitter, vile after taste.
The same political system produced Lysenko, an absolute crack pot.
Posted on 04-Oct-07 at 6:09 pm | PermalinkBrendan Halfweeg:
Hey. Fair go. Don’t knock Lysenko. He did so much to inspire many of Australia’s most important government and corporate decisions. [Occam's Razor anyone?]
Jacques Chester:
Posted on 04-Oct-07 at 9:53 pm | PermalinkThe day news came out about Sputnik, we really knew we had been thrust into the world of Dan Dare, Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.
The chief engineer of Sputnik S.P Korolyov is buried in the Kremlin wall behind the mausoleum, as is Gagarin. Unfortunately to get there you have to go past the memorial to Stalin which never lacked an abundance of fresh flowers at its base and was always depressing to be anywhere near.
Posted on 05-Oct-07 at 11:57 am | Permalink