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Example research essay topic: History Around The Russian Launch Of Sputnik - 2,086 words

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The launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik on October 4 th, 1957 had a profound influence on both American and Russian culture, ranging from the inception of the space race to the mass hysteria the ensued in America afterwards. Sputnik was the product of massive amounts of money and research poured into a missile and satellite program by both the American and Soviet governments. Even though The soviet union might have been the first country to put a satellite into space, this does not necessarily mean that they were ahead in the overall space race, despite this, Sputnik was seen to Americans as an almost cretin symbol of doom and Soviet supremacy. To the American people science and technology has always been a symbol of democratic stability and military strength.

Knowledge is power. The forefathers of our country were almost entirely philosophers or scientists. Characters come to mind like John Quincy Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who where philosophers, and one of our strongest national figures, Benjamin Franklin, was an avid inventor. From the Inception of some of the first national universities to the launch of the Louis and Clark expedition, scientific progress is value imbedded in the national conciseness. (Killian, 1977, p. 45) Science has always been important to that American people, but it was the onset of both of the world wars that made it so ultimately important. In 1941 President Roosevelt approved the establishment of the National Defense Research Committee, and one year later he created the Office oh Scientific Research and development. He was prompted to do this by the war looming in the nations future and the need to be prepared if the US would have to fight. (Killian, 1977, p. 47) In the spring of 1950, a group of American scientists led by James van Allen met in Silver Springs, Maryland to discuss the possibility of an international scientific program to study the upper atmosphere and outer space via sounding rockets, balloons, and ground observations.

Strong support from Western European scientists allowed the idea to expand into a worldwide program timed to coincide with a period of intense solar activity, 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958. The participants named this period the International Geophysical Year (IGY) and created the Comit speciale de l'anne go physique internationale (the 'Special Committee for the International Geophysical Year' or 'CSAGI') to establish an agenda for the program. (Levine, 1994, p. 76) Soviet representatives, including Academy of Sciences Vice-President Academician Ivan P. Brain, served on the Committee, but do not appear to have had any significant contribution to its proceedings. In fact, the May 1954 deadline for submissions for participation in the IGY passed without any word from Soviet authorities. At a subsequent meeting in Rome on the 4 th of October 1954, Soviet scientists silently witnessed the approval of a historic U. S. -sponsored plan to orbit artificial satellites during the IGY. (Oberg, 1981, p. 38) The satellite proposal clearly surprised the Soviet delegation, and had repercussions within the USSR Academy of Sciences.

In the fall of 1954, the Academy established the Interdepartmental Commission for the Coordination and Control of Work in the Field of Organization and Accomplishment of Interplanetary Communications, a typically longwinded title which obscured its primary role, a forum for Soviet scientists to discuss space exploration in abstract terms, both in secret and in public. While this Commission had little real authority, its Chairman Sedov may have played a crucial role in connecting Korolev's satellite efforts with the International Geophysical Year. The chain of events was set off on July 29 th, 1955 by U. S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Press Secretary James C.

Hagerty who announced at the White House that the United States would launch "small Earth-circling satellites" as part of its participation in the IGY (Levine, 1994, p. 215). It was at this same time that the International Astronautical Federation was holding its Sixth International Astronautical Congress at Copenhagen, Denmark. Heading the Soviet delegation was Sedov and Kirill F. Ogorodnikov, the editor of a respected astronomy journal in the USSR. The two were called into action by an announcement on August 2 nd by Fred C.

Durant III, the President of the Congress, who reported the Eisenhower Administration's intentions of launching a satellite during the IGY. (Levine, 1994, p. 65) Not to be outdone, Sedov convened a press conference the same day at the Soviet embassy in Copenhagen for about 50 journalists during which he announced "In my opinion, it will be possible to launch an artificial Earth satellite within the next two years. " He added that "The realization of the Soviet project can be expected in the near future. " (Oberg, 1981, p. 87) Technical work on the vehicle officially began on February 25 th, 1956 with actual construction beginning on March 5 th. Tikhonravov's group at the NII- 4 and Korolev's Design Bureau at the NII- 88 (meaning number 4 and 88) were the two most active participants in this process, but numerous other organizations provided various elements of the complete satellite. By 14 June, Korolev finalized the necessary changes to the basic version of the R- 7, the most current rocket vehicle of that time, ICBM in order to use it for a satellite launch. The new booster would incorporate a number of major changes including the use of updated main engines and a new payload fairing replacing the old one used for a nuclear warhead.

A month later, on July 24 th 1956, Korolev formally approved the initial Draft Plan for the Object D, one of the code names for the sputnik projects. The document was co-signed by his senior associates Tikhonravov, Konstantin D. Bushuyev, Sergey O. Okhapkin, and Leonid A. Voskresenskiy. (Vassilivev, 1958, p. 132) By mid- 1956 the Object D project was beginning to fall significantly behind schedule. Some subcontractors were particularly lackadaisical in their assignments, and parts were often delivered which did not fit the original specifications. (Killian, 1977, p. 187) One of the most important and vocal leaders on the Sputnik project was a Russian scientist named Korolev, he and and another man named Keldysh were almost single handedly responsible for launching sputnik at such an early date.

On September 14 th, Mr. Keldysh made a personal plea at a meeting of the Academy of Sciences Presidium for speeding up work, invoking a threat all would understand: "we all want our satellite to fly earlier than the Americans. " Events in the satellite program took an abrupt turn in the waning months of 1956. Actual test models of the Object D, expected to be ready by October, remained unfinished (Oberg, 1981, p. 169). By the end of November, Korolev began to suffer from great anxiety, no doubt compounded by his extraordinarily busy plans, traveling from Kaliningrad to Kapustin Yar to Turn-Tam to Molotovsk and back several times to oversee various projects. Part of this anxiety was due to serious concerns that his project would be suddenly preempted with a satellite launch from the United States.

He had been informed of a September 1956 launch of a missile from Patrick Air Force Base at Cape Canaveral, Florida, which according to his erroneous information, was a failed attempt to launch a satellite into orbit. A second concern were the results of static testing of the R- 7 engines on the ground. Instead of the projected specific impulse of 309 - 310 seconds, the R- 7 engines would not produce more than 304 seconds, too low for the heavy Object D satellite. He realized that perhaps he was making this effort too complicated. Why not attempt to launch something simpler on the first orbital attempt instead of a sophisticated one-and-a-half-ton scientific observatory? (Killian, 1977, p. 215) The R- 7 was transported and installed on the launch pad in the early morning of October 3 rd escorted on foot by Korolev, Ryabikov, and other members of the State Commission.

Fueling began early the following morning at 0545 hours local time. Korolev, under a great amount of pressure, remained cautious throughout the proceedings. He told his engineers, "Nobody will hurry us. If you have even the tiniest doubt, we will stop the testing and make the corrections on the satellite. There is still time... " Most of the engineers, understandably enough, did not have time to ponder over the historical value or importance of the upcoming event. PS- 1 's deputy designer Ivanovskiy recalled ."..

Nobody back then was thinking about the magnitude of what was going on: everyone did his own job, living through its disappointments and joys. " (Levine, 1994, p. 74) On the night of the 4 th, the anniversary of the death of one of Russias most famous rocketry pioneers, huge flood lights illuminated the launch pad as the engineers in their blockhouse checked off all the systems. In the command bunker accompanying Korolev were some of the senior members of the State Commission. All launch operations for Sputnik were handled by two men, a civilian and a military officer. Representing the civilians was Korolev's deputy Leonid A. Voskresenskiy, one of the most colorful characters in the history of the Soviet space program. A daredevil motorcyclist with a legendary penchant for taking risks, he had been with the program since the early days in 1945 when the Soviets had scoured Germany for the remains of the A- 4 missile.

Lt. -Col. Aleksandr I. Nosov represented the military. Both men were 44 years old at the time. (Vassilivev, 1958, p. 151) The actual command for launch was entrusted to the hands of Boris S. Chekunov, a young artillery forces lieutenant. He later recalled the final moments as the clock ticked past midnight local time: "When only a few minutes remained until lift-off, Korolev nodded to his deputy Voskresenskiy.

The operators froze, awaiting the final order. Nosov, the chief of the launch control team, stood at the periscope. He could see the whole pad. 'One minute to go!' he called. The seconds counted down to zero and Nosov shouted the command for lift-off. Chekunov immediately pressed the lift-off button. At exactly 2228 hours 34 seconds Moscow Time on 4 October, the engines ignited and the 272, 830 kilogram booster lifted off the pad in a blaze of light and smoke.

The five engines of the R- 7 generated about 398 tons of thrust at launch. Although the rocket lifted off gracefully, there were problems. Delays in the firing of several engines almost resulted in a launch abort. The System for the Simultaneous Emptying of the Tanks (SOBIS) failed, which resulted in higher than normal kerosene consumption. A turbine failure due to this resulted in main engine cut-off one second prior to the planned moment. Separation from the core stage, however, occurred successfully, and the 184 pound PS- 1 successfully flew into a free-fall elliptical trajectory.

The first human-made object entered orbit around the Earth inaugurating a new era in exploration. (Vassilivev, 1958, p. 154) Within hours radio operators in the U. S. , Japan, Canada and Great Britain began to pick up the satellite's telltale sounds on prescribed frequencies. Although 76 groups of amateur U. S. "moon watchers" rushed to their posts on Saturday before dawn, they failed to make any sure sightings. This was explained when scientists computed the satellite's apparent orbit from its radio signals (Levine, 1994, p. 126). The satellite, while regularly crossing all parts of the earth north of Cape Horn and south of Nome, Alaska, would not be above the U.

S. at dawn or dusk until late October - and at no other time of day, thanks to the blotting-out effect of the sun, could it be seen anywhere. It would remain in Orbit for almost 3 months when it eventually burned up in the atmosphere in late 1957. The American reaction was and still is the most interesting part of the entire sputnik ordeal. It is that this 184 pound piece of tin doing nothing put merely orbiting around the earth and beeping was a certain sign of doom for the free world. Another interesting thing about this is not that the panic was limited to solely the ignorant American public, but some of the highest ranked Military leaders and Government officials lost there heads out of fear of a red future.

One of the most accurate ways to accurately depict the mentality of a country as a whole is to explain the reactions of the countries most hard minded and informed men and w...


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Research essay sample on History Around The Russian Launch Of Sputnik

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