Sputnik 1 (/ˈspʌtnɪk, ˈspʊtnɪk/, ‹See Tfd›Russian: Спутник-1, Satellite 1) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for three weeks before its three silver-zinc batteries became depleted. Aerodynamic drag caused it to fall back into the atmosphere on 4 January 1958. The world's first observation was made at the school observatory in Rodewisch (Saxony).

It was a polished metal sphere 58 cm (23 in) in diameter with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. Its radio signal was easily detectable by amateur radio operators, and the 65° orbital inclination made its flight path cover virtually the entire inhabited Earth.

The satellite's success was unanticipated by the United States. This precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, part of the Cold War. The launch was the beginning of a new era of political, military, technological, and scientific developments. The word sputnik is Russian for satellite when interpreted in an astronomical context; its other meanings are spouse or traveling companion.

Tracking and studying Sputnik 1 from Earth provided scientists with valuable information. The density of the upper atmosphere could be deduced from its drag on the orbit, and the propagation of its radio signals gave data about the ionosphere.

Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No.1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR (now known as the Baikonur Cosmodrome). The satellite traveled at a peak speed of about 8 km/s (18,000 mph), taking 96.20 minutes to complete each orbit. It transmitted on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz, which were monitored by radio operators throughout the world. The signals continued for 22 days until the transmitter batteries depleted on 26 October 1957. On 4 January 1958, after three months in orbit, Sputnik 1 burned up while reentering Earth's atmosphere, having completed 1,440 orbits of the Earth, and travelling a distance of approximately 70,000,000 km (43,000,000 mi).

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  • JohnBrownsBussy2 [she/her, they/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    12 minutes ago

    My department is full of Iranian diaspora libs. Just have to bite my tongue and pretend to be "normal" whenever there's any discussion related to the Middle East/Axis of Resistance.

  • bazingabrain [comrade/them]
    ·
    23 minutes ago

    Reminder that even fucking Sven Olov Lindholm himself later changed camps, said nazism was a blight on mankind, and that the holocaust had happened and was a crime. A former swedish Nazi politician still had more integrity than MSM western journalist will ever have.

  • glans [it/its]
    ·
    40 minutes ago

    my grandad threw all his kids in the car and drove them way out to the countryside where it was real dark so the light pollution wouldn't get in the way of everyone having a clear look at Sputnik cruising by. He thought it was important for them to see.

    It's about the wholesomest image I can imagine in the 1950s.

  • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
    ·
    30 minutes ago

    Apparently Fred Armisen is not 1/4 Japanese he's 1/4 Korean idk what to believe anymore.

  • rhubarb [he/him]
    ·
    49 minutes ago

    Math problems that involve realizing a number in them is a power of two are not real math, they do not test any practical mathematics skills, and anyone putting them on tests should be shot by a firing squad

  • Wmill [he/him]
    ·
    53 minutes ago

    Been watching Parkour civilization shit's cool-zone it's cinema and theory about half way through it rn

    • WhatDoYouMeanPodcast [comrade/them]
      ·
      6 minutes ago

      My writer's critique group unanimously agreed that I didn't do a good enough job explaining my magic system and therefore the moment where a spell backfires didn't have the impact it needed because there was still mystery as to what had just happened. When Evbo becomes a parkour pro his neighbor very quickly does a fantastic job in explaining the consequences of missing a jump as a pro and therefore showed competence in an area that I had trouble not just in my writing but in general.

  • Wendy_Pleakley [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    1 hour ago

    Being back in school is mindbending.

    Nobody is close to my age. I have mutual people with my classmates, but they're all 5-10 years younger than me. They all have history with each other, and my only real connection is through people who they see as "the old guys", so like, I'm the "old guy" to the "old guys".

    Everyone reads music off tablets. In 2019 we made fun of the people who were reading off tablets..? Now I'm out of touch because I don't have an iPad.

    I feel a massive cultural barrier. I feel like Captain America being thawed out of the iceberg. Time forgot me. Everyone was happy to call me dead. Put me back in the fucking ice.

    • StalinStan [none/use name]
      ·
      35 minutes ago

      The weird part in my situation is that I am kinda in the same place as the young people I am now associating with. Like, I still have some Nintendo games that are older than the people I am playing the switch with at lunch

  • SoylentSnake [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    2 hours ago

    methinks tomorrow night will be a paint my nails black drink some pumpkin ale and watch The VVitch type of beat comfy

      • SoylentSnake [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        29 minutes ago

        If u fw artsy horror it’s one of the absolute GOATs if you don’t it generally plays kinda boring (I’m very much in the former camp it’s one of my favorite movies period)

    • viva_la_juche [they/them, any]
      ·
      2 hours ago

      we started watching horror movies almost every night since the end of sept. Watched like the entire insidious series which I'd never seen and that was ... one of the horror movies. I should definitely get the vvitch in rotation

      • SoylentSnake [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 hours ago

        ive been trickling in since like mid sept, i love spooky season but the issue is ive seen so much of the good shit already and its a genre filled with mids at best and a lotta trash. like i love horror when it hits but it disappoints me so often (sorta how i feel about anime lol). the joy middle of the road spooky flicks give me has also diminished some with age but eh its still a fun yearly tradition.

        EDIT: The First Omen was pretty tight though, watched it last night and it was def the best first time watch i've had this spooky season so far.

        • viva_la_juche [they/them, any]
          ·
          edit-2
          1 hour ago

          ill have to check it out. i like horror movies but ironically haven't seen very many of the relatively modern ones (2010s on) bc i dont really watch movies in general but my partner does.

          • SoylentSnake [he/him, they/them]
            ·
            1 hour ago

            Oh you’re in for a treat then!! Mid 2010s into the 2020s the genre had kind of a renaissance imo, many many bangers in your future.

  • StalinStan [none/use name]
    ·
    1 hour ago

    I just saw some of the most unhinged shit I have seen a while. I saw an old man lick thr chocolate off a finished butterfinger bar and then throw out the candy center. As I am shocked to silence he then opens a second to start the process anew. I have found a midden of wrappers. He has ostensibly doing this all day. I am not even upset just confused

  • Goblinmancer [any]
    ·
    2 hours ago

    For the sake of my sanity i assume 99% of likes in twitter are botted so that my-hero can pretend the site isnt dying.

    • rhubarb [he/him]
      ·
      2 hours ago

      My twitter account that has maybe 5 tweets gets followed by on average two users every day, all with pretty obviously randomly generated women's names. The site is cooked beyond belief.

  • viva_la_juche [they/them, any]
    ·
    2 hours ago

    my partner recently discovered that sofi tukker isnt actually Brazilian and is pretty gutted about it lol

  • rhubarb [he/him]
    ·
    3 hours ago

    People love saying shit like "I like living in a place with four seasons!" and then you check and they have at most like 2.5 seasons

  • Cowbee [he/him]
    ·
    3 hours ago

    Why do I bother arguing with libs yes-honey-left

    The Lemmy.world mods and admins have been by far the worst, most predictable liberals imaginable, as though made in a lab.

      • Cowbee [he/him]
        ·
        3 hours ago

        Absolutely, it's pure, distilled garbage water that pools at the bottom of the garbage bags, further reduced on a stove to a nice spoon-coating consistency. Just vile kombucha-disgust

    • combat_doomerism [he/him]
      ·
      3 hours ago

      for the hope that your comments will reach the lurkers who say nothing but see the liberal floundering and the seed of doubt gets planted into their mind that will hopefully one day grow

      • Cowbee [he/him]
        ·
        2 hours ago

        I know, but self-care is important, I've converted maybe 2 or 3 lemmy users to Marxism-Leninism over around a year it feels. Just draining, ya know?

        • FunkyStuff [he/him]
          ·
          2 hours ago

          The effort you put in is worth it. I agitate a lot IRL, and I get a lot of flack for it obviously, but I've had a random guy tell me he left the defense company he worked at because of some information I posted. I've had people ask me to review lists of companies they were applying for to see if there were any companies that were developing products for the genocide. I've had another few randoms tell me that they've changed their mind about a lot of things because of it. If that's just the people that explicitly reach out, just imagine how many people are changing their actions because they see a commie telling them that a better world is possible and how to contribute to it? We have enormous power to use to change the world positively just by talking with people and changing their minds, because liberalism and fascism are so fragile that they fall apart under closer inspection: all people need is a little push to see how incoherent bourgeois ideology is.

          • Cowbee [he/him]
            ·
            2 hours ago

            Thanks, that's a good message. I think it's more selfishly driven, I have an inner debate-pervert I try to kill off every day so I can just be a chill person, but it is nice when people reach out at let me know I've helped. Thanks!

        • combat_doomerism [he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          2 hours ago

          of course. my username is combat_doomerism though so I felt it was obligatory to say it /hj

          but seriously do take care of yourself