Sputnik Gallery

Sputnik 1 rocket track

Sputnik 1 rocket track. Long exposure photograph of the night sky showing the track of the rocket that carried Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite. Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4th, 1957 by the former Soviet Union. The name Sputnik is Russian for travel companion or satellite. The body was made from a highly polished aluminium alloy sphere which measured 58 centimetres in diameter and weighed 83.5 kilograms. It also had four long antennas attached. Sputnik 1 transmitted radio signals back to earth for a period of 21 days. The success of Sputnik 1 prompted the US government to enter the Space Race with the launch of Explorer-1 four months later. Photographed on October 16th, 1957

© DETLEV VAN RAVENSWAAY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Sergei Korolev in 1934

Sergei Korolev (1907-1966), pioneering Soviet rocket scientist. Korolev studied aviation in Moscow, and in his late teens designed and built gliders as a hobby. After developing an interest in rocketry, Korolev formed the Moscow Group for the Study of Reactive Motion who, in 1933, launched the USSR's first liquid-fuelled rocket. He was arrested during Stalin's purges but, his importance being recognised, was allowed to continue his research. After the Second World War he was released and set to work developing rockets, both for space exploration and military use. His most famous projects were Sputnik 1 (1957), the first artificial satellite and Vostock 1 (1961), which carried the first man into space. Photographed in 1934

© RIA NOVOSTI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Explorer 1 launch

Explorer 1 launch. Explorer 1, America's first successful artificial satellite, being launched by a Jupiter-C rocket from Cape Canaveral (now Kennedy Space Centre), Florida, USA, on 31 January 1958. Explorer 1 was launched after the USSR took the USA by surprise by launching the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, on 4 October 1957. The rocket-shaped satellite, which weighed 14 kilograms, was housed in the nose cone of the rocket. It orbited Earth at heights of between 360 kilometres and 2520 kilometres until 31 March 1970. It carried a geiger counter, used to detect cosmic rays. Data collected by the satellite led to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt, a torus of charged particles held in place by the Earth's magnetic field

© NASA/VRS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY