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The First Real Sputnik [Hackaday]
Americans certainly remember Sputnik. At a time when the world was larger and scarier, the Soviets had a metal basketball flying over the United States and the rest of the world. It made people nervous, but it was also a tremendous scientific achievement. However, it wasn’t the plan to use it as the first orbiter, as [Scott Manley] explains in a recent video that you can see below.
The original design would become Sputnik 3, which, as [Scott] puts it, was the first Soviet satellite that “didn’t suck.” The first one was essentially a stunt, and the second one had an animal payload and thermal problems that killed the canine occupant, [Laika].
Most people don’t remember the later Sputnik missions. However, they did some of the first science in Earth’s orbit. [Scott] has a lot of history related to the early days of space science.
The original Sputnik did little more than beep from orbit. We were surprised the CIA didn’t swipe one of them.