By some distance the most important scientific satellite ever put into orbit the Hubble Space Telescope enabled astronomers to view stars and galaxies in previously unimagined detail Its optics and systems have been continually upgraded by Shuttle missions Hubble has even enabled astronomers to begin divining the origins of the Universe
INTRODUCTION In space a satellite is an object locked in orbit following its curved path around a more massive object It was long understood that the Moon orbited the Earth in this way A method for placing artificial satellites in orbit around Earth was first suggested in 1903 Fifty years passed until the technology was ready Then beeping Sputnik 1 speeding up to 17,000 miles 25,000 km per hour circled the globe More than 3,000 satellites from 50 different countries have since been placed in orbit forever changing the way we see the world communicate and view the cosmos A Boeing Delta IV heavy lift vehicle or rocket blasts a US GOES weather satellite on its journey into orbit The Delta is one of several orbital launchers used by the 10 or so spacefaring nations An average of 120 satellites are launched every year
THE SPUTNIK SHOCK In 1955 the US announced it would launch an artificial satellite during an upcoming series of international Earth science experiments Meanwhile the USSR Soviet Union its superpower rival was working on a secret project of its own US President Eisenhower announced a satellite 1 Ventilation fan 3 4 5 1 2 THE SOVIETS GEAR UP The original Soviet plan for an ambitious orbiting laboratory had quickly proved impossible In 1957 the project was scaled down to a simple probe that would transmit temperature and pressure data It was christened Sputnik Companion Fastracked by Soviet space genius Sergey Korolyov it would be launched atop his new R-7 missile design A Soviet engineer prepares Sputnik 1 for its flight In eight months it was ready On October 4 at 10 28 pm Moscow time the rocket launched and successfully placed Sputnik 1into orbit After a tense 90 minutes Soviet ground stations received a stream of beeps a signal that the world INSIDE SPUTNIK 1 1 OUTER CASING Spherical to reduce atmospheric drag 2 INSTRUMENT CASING Two transmitters and two batteries 3 SENSORS For measuring temperature and pressure in space 4 ANTENNA MOUNT 5 INNER CASING Pressurized to protect instruments Sputnik 1 took the US completely by surprise The sudden Soviet domination of space caused both scientific interest and public fear as the Americans worked desperately to get into orbit had just changed In 1957 the Soviet R-7 rocket was the only launch system in the world capable of lofting a Sputnik sized payload into orbit 06
To us Sputnik is like a technological Pearl Harbor James M Gavin US Army chief of research and development Sputnik 1’s success put a glow on the face of Soviet Premier Khrushchev It also appeared to back up his claims of Soviet missile superiority TOO LITTLE TOO QUICKLY US President Eisenhower insisted his Watched by the world’s press a US Navy Vanguard TV rocket exploded on the launch pad on December 6,1957 nation was on target for December launch Then the Soviets successfully launched a dog into orbit The team developing the US Vanguard rocket and its diminutive TV3 satellite the size of a grapefruit were rushed into a launch with explosively disastrous results US dignity was in tatters Solar cells VANGUARD TV3 VON BRAUN’S BOYS Luckily a second project headed by US German rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun was already under way Using a tried-and-tested adaptation of his Redstone missile von Braun’s team designed an instrument-bearing nose cone satellite Explorer 1 fitted to a baby rocket casing A second-stage ring of small rockets fired in sequence to separate and propel Explorer 1 into orbit The design worked better than expected throwing Explorer 1three times farther than Sputnik 1’s 550 miles 900 km The US was in the space race A Redstone rocket rises on a column of flame lifting Explorer 1 into the night sky on January 31 1958 RADIATION belts detected by EXPLORER 1 are named after its instrument-maker James VAN ALLEN A triumphant von Braun far right and his team hold aloft a model of the first US satellite in orbit Antenna Vanguard’s tiny satellite left was mangled EXPLORER 1 Turnstile antenna wire Nose cone 07
