Word: orbits
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Despite the official White House line that "the Soviet launching did not come as any surprise," highly surprised scientists and military men drew some quick lessons from sputnik's success. Items: ¶ To put the 184.3-lb. satellite in its orbit, the Russians had to have an operational ballistic missile driven by a rocket engine at least as big as the U.S.'s biggest and best; hence the Russians probably have a workable intercontinental ballistics missile...
Launching of the Russian satellite is man's first successful attempt to navigate the ocean of space around the earth. Despite the chagrin of U.S. rocketmen, few disparaged the Russian achievement. In at least three important ways-weight, orbit and altitude-the sputnik* outclasses the U.S. satellite, which is still on the ground...
...weight: 184.3 lbs. The U.S. Project Vanguard has hoped to send 21½ lbs. into space, less than one-eighth of the sputnik. Some critics cited the weight of the Russian satellite as proof that it is crude; but in satellite launching, the weight placed on the orbit is a measure of success...
...Triumph. In choosing an orbit for the sputnik, the Russians were daring. The easiest way to put a satellite on an orbit is to launch it toward the east from the equator. This takes maximum advantage of the earth's easterly rotation, and gives the satellite about 1,000 m.p.h. of free speed. The U.S. satellite, launched due east from Florida, would have got about 914 m.p.h. of free speed. The sputnik's orbit, 65° away from the equator, takes it -in Red triumph-over nearly all of the inhabited earth. (The U.S. satellite would have stayed...
...sputnik's orbit is also much higher than Project Vanguard hoped to achieve. The U.S. satellite was expected to revolve at a minimum of 300 miles above the earth. This altitude would have touched the fringe of the atmosphere, probably limiting the satellite's life to a few days. The sputnik revolves some 559 miles up, an altitude at which it could keep circling around for years...