Sputnik's 60th Anniversary 1: The glorious past of the Russians

Right on this day 60 years ago - on 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik 1 satellite into space, opening the race to conquer the universe of the world and open up a new sky for humanity discovery.

At 22:34 34 seconds on October 4, 1957 (Moscow time), 20 burning engines boosted the missile R-7 - bringing Sputnik 1 satellite into space and quickly disappearing in the dark night. toothpick in the northeast. 314.5 seconds after detaching from the missile, the satellite starts signaling "Beep! Beep" that can be heard from monitoring stations on Earth.

The R-7 rocket leaves the ground, bringing humanity's first artificial satellite into space.

Sputnik 1 brought humanity's desire to conquer the universe successfully launched .

He paved the way for the era of conquering the universe

The private museum of the Russian state-owned rocket and space corporation RSC Energia is home to "treasures" in the Soviet conquest of the universe. Several models for the first Sputnik 1 flight are still being stored here. These models possess a very special shape that makes anyone think of Sputnik 1. It is a small metal ball weighing just over 80kg; Polished surface and multiple antenna mounting.

A Soviet engineer was editing the final details of Sputkik 1 in the autumn of 1957, before bringing it to space.

Astronaut Alexander Kaléry - Head of Flight Control Department of RSC Energia, reminisced: despite being designed simply, the world's first satellite works extremely efficiently.

"It was inspired by the first successful launch of the R7 missile. The design purpose of Sputnik 1 is as simple as possible, without the need for sophisticated scientific equipment. It includes only a thermometer, battery. , a system of air conditioning and modules, which helped the Soviet Union to defeat the US in its race to become the first country to launch a satellite out of Earth. '

Igor Komarov, general director of the Roscosmos Russian Federal Aerospace Agency, said: "This is really important for all Soviet people. Because this is an important breakthrough, the proof for the advancement of technology, the success of the programs was done by chief engineer Sergey Korolev and the leading scientists of the Soviet Union, together they created a new industry in the world: industry Universe industry '.

Chief engineer of the project Sergei Korolev and the improved R-7 rocket launcher to bring Sputnik into orbit.

World shocking event 60 years ago

Roger-Maurice Bonnet, former Science Director of the European Space Agency ESA, recalls: 'This is a big event, the beginning of the Soviet conquest of space that no one would have expected. That day we thought America was the first to launch this race. This created a major crisis in Washington because they did not expect the Soviet Union to be able to do such a miracle '.

John Krige, a science and technology researcher at the Georgia Institute of Technology, explains: "People often misunderstand the importance of Sputnik when he thinks that this is just a normal satellite. This is the rocket that helped bring Sputnik into space, this is a transcontinental ballistic missile that the Soviet Union has developed and it has been working successfully on the first test. First in American history felt afraid of the power of the Soviet Union '.

At that time, when the space race was taking place, the chief engineer and Soviet space manager, Sergei Korolev, quickly started a new race. Less than a month after Sputnik 1 was released, Sputnik 2 was launched with Laika on November 3, 1957. Laika became the first living creature to enter the universe, although it was burnt during his historic journey.

Image simulating Sputnik 1 activity in space.

Glorious and ambitious past

Sharing with Euronews, Alexei Leonov, the first astronaut to walk in space, recounted his memories: "Sergei Pavlovich Korolev has set up a manned spacecraft with missiles. Vostok, the new version of Sputnik's rocket launcher, issued a rule about recruiting crews for spacecraft from people working as jet pilots. in the first test group ".

According to astronaut Alexander Kalery, the Soviet plan was deployed in the late 1950s when the government issued a space exploration program for the future. In this plan, they refer to the autonomous stations that fly to the Moon, flights to Mars and Venus, human flights to the universe, 'they talk about men walking to Mars, Venus, the Moon, and the construction of space stations there. '

Less than a month after Sputnik 1 was released, Sputnik 2 was launched with the dog Laika.

The fact that the Soviet Union first set foot on the universe made the United States panicked by realizing that it was 'inferior to missile technology'.

After experiencing a series of failed launches, the first US satellite, Explorer 1, was finally launched on January 31, 1958.

By that time, the Soviet Union had achieved a great ideological victory, when they put Laika the dog into orbit Sputnik 2.

In the late 1950s to the early 1960s, Soviet space programs continuously achieved a series of first titles, such as: The first man to fly into space; The first woman to fly into space; The first three men flew into space; The first walk in space, the first Spacecraft approaching the Moon; The first spacecraft to fly into the Moon's orbit; the first spacecraft near Venus; and the first soft landing on Mars.

However, the "game" changed dramatically when the US made a giant leap in the late 1960s, with the Apollo program culminating in a historic landing on the Moon on July 20, 1969.

The halo has turned off?

The Soviet Union began the cosmic era six decades ago with the launch of Sputnik 1, and paved the way for humans to enter the universe after bringing astronaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit near Earth on December 12. April 4, 1961.

However, the country once pioneered in space exploration, is struggling to find a way to restore its position after a long time of brain drain and budget cuts.

After the Soviet Union disintegrated, post-Soviet Russia was unable to launch a space device to the planets in the solar system, including the Moon. While American exploration ships traveled to the farthest regions of the solar system. Even new countries participating in the space sector such as India, China and Japan have also sent unmanned ships to the Moon and beyond.

The report of the OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development at the end of last year showed that the budget for Russia's space exploration race in 2013 was only about US $ 5.3 billion, much less than with the US and even the 'latecomer' of China.

The budget for Russia's space program in 2013 was just over US $ 5 billion, while that figure in the US and China was 39 and 6 billion, respectively.

The world has exploded a new race in space occupation. Not only new faces like India, China and most recently Australia, but also big corporations like Space X of billionaire Elon Musk or Blue Origin of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.

What do Russians today know about Sputnik's history?

News correspondent Euronews interviewed visitors at the Astronaut Museum in Moscow received the following answers:

1. 'The only thing I know is that the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into space in 1957,' said a teenage boy.
2. "The Russians have put in a lot of effort to achieve this feat. And this is very important for world history," one visitor shared.
3. 'I have learned it at school. Now I bring my children here to understand more about the heroic history of the Russians. It was a pride when we were the first to explore the universe, ' a father excitedly shared.

Sputnik model at the Astronaut Museum in Moscow.

That legacy exists until today. All astronauts used Baikonur space airport to use the ISS international space station as Sputnik 1 used. Russian Federation of Aerospace Services Roscosmos also has many new projects as partners. Among them was a joint project with NASA to build a space station around the Moon between 2024-2026, or the Russian-European Interplanetary Station ExoMars to explore the Red planet.

"I believe that being the first person in this field is no longer important. What is important is what we are working towards. These are very important breakthrough discoveries. ExoMars is In addition, we are also actively preparing to build the space station on the Moon in 2020 to be able to better understand the environment here, maybe even closer to the goal. build houses on the Moon, " said Komarov, Roscosmos Director.

Such projects towards the Moon and Mars are expected to bring about the same as what Sputnik, an ambitious and successful project until 60 years later, has created.