Sputnik Fifty Years Later: New Evidence on Its Origins
- Paper number
IAC-07-E4.1.02
- Author
Prof. Asif Siddiqi, Fordham University, United States
- Year
2007
- Abstract
The rewriting of Soviet history that became possible in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union allowed historians to revisit the origins of Sputnik and construct a much fuller narrative than was possible before. This ‘new’ narrative for the first time filled in many of the missing links in the history of Sputnik. The ‘new’ history began with the pioneering work of the famous “Tikhonravov Group” in the early 1950s. The team, headed by Mikhail Klavdiyevich Tikhonravov, conducted the first serious research in the Soviet Union on the design, technology, and missions of future artificial satellites. Armed with their research work, on May 27, 1954, legendary ‘Chief Designer’ Sergey Pavlovich Korolev sent the first letter to the Soviet government requesting a commitment to initiate a satellite development program. Subsequent elaboration of the satellite concept in 1954 and 1955 allowed Korolev, Tikhonravov, and their colleagues to develop a detailed plan for the satellite. The Soviet government finally issued a decree approving the satellite plan on January 30, 1956. The idea was to launch a relatively sophisticated scientific observatory during the International Geophysical Year in 1957-58. This was the seed of the current day Russian space program. Later in 1956, Korolev and Tikhonravov decided to limit his ambitions. Afraid that the Americans would launch a satellite earlier than the Soviets, they decided to ask for approval to launch a much more modest-sized satellite, basically a sphere with a power source, a heat control system, a radio transmitter, and antennas. The Soviet government signed off on the more modest plan in February 15, 1957. As a result, the first Sputnik satellite was launched on October 4, 1957 opening the Space Age. The following year, the Soviets launched their originally intended large observatory as Sputnik-3. This ‘new’ story filled in many of the missing details but there still remained many unanswered questions. Why, if Korolev wrote to the government in May 1954 did they respond with a decree nearly two years later in January 1956? What happened during this period? Why did the Soviet government approve Korolev’s plan when it did? For historians, the story of Sputnik still contained a number of mysteries. New evidence now answers at least some of these questions. Documents from both the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ARAN) and the Archive of the President of the Russian Federation (APRF) now show that two unknown dates were critical to the approval of Sputnik: August 10, 1954 and August 8, 1955. On the former date, for the very first time, the Soviet government approved limited work on space exploration for the first time. On the second date, the Soviet government effectively approved the Sputnik project. In this paper, I will explore in more detail the events of these two dates, and show how even in the pre-Sputnik years, the space plans of the Soviet Union were fundamentally tied to events in the United States, and vice-versa. In other words, one could make the case that the ‘space race’ began long before 1957.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-E4.1.02.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.