Soviet poster : the beginning of the space age.

On October 4, 1957, in space, the R-7 rocket brought into orbit a ball called PS-1 weighing 83.6 kg of aluminum alloy. He spent 92 days in orbit and made 1,440 revolutions around the Earth, continuously sending a radio signal. The launch day of the satellite is considered the beginning of an era of space exploration throughout the world.

The satellite was launched from the so-called 5th research polygon of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR Tyura-Tam (later in its place the Baikonur cosmodrome will be constructed).
For launch, the upgraded intercontinental ballistic missile R-7 was used, and the ball was designated abbreviation PS-1, which meant "the simplest satellite." Inside the ball there were accumulators, radio transmitters, temperature and pressure sensors and other devices. According to Boris Chertok, one of the developers of the satellite, few believed in the success of the launch: the group was considered a "personal toy" by Sergei Korolev, who at that time was the chief designer of the Special Design Bureau No. 1 (OKB-1) in the suburban Kaliningrad (now Korolev). The main task of the Design Bureau was the development of long-range ballistic missiles, and the satellite was considered only a "side project". The Queen had to lobby for its launch for several years, and only in early 1956 the government of the USSR signed a decree on the creation and launching in 1957-1958 of the "Object D" - a satellite with scientific equipment.
The satellite stayed in orbit 92 days, until January 4, 1958. He made 1,440 revolutions around the Earth, flying about 60 million km, and his radio transmitters worked for two weeks after the launch. Later, due to friction on the upper layers of the atmosphere, the satellite lost speed, descended lower, entered the dense layers of the atmosphere, and burned down.
The launch of the satellite had a stunning success all over the world. Many radio stations broadcast signals that the device sent from orbit, and the very word "satellite" entered many languages ​​of the world. Immediately in the space industry, the competition began. Already six months later, on February 1, 1958, the United States launched Explorer-1 into space, and in 1962, 1962, and 1964, satellites sent to the UK, Canada and Italy.
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