Pages

Tuesday, 25 September 2007

Sputnik at Fifty


Fifty years ago the Soviet Union ushered in the Space Age with the launch of Sputnik.

A pity it had to also be a certified brown-trouser moment for free men everywhere.

4 comments:

  1. Nice article and video David!

    About 2 weeks to Oct 6 though.

    I hadn't seen that footage before.
    Nice that it's in color.

    The Lo-Def YouTube didn't allow me to look at the camera operator in the Sputnik 1 chrome finish.
    Hopefully he wasn't nude.
    (Obscure reference?)

    Check out the "Man Conquers Space" website with the retro alternate history space program.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, go the Russians for being the winners of the Space Race.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I thought the Space Race was "first to the moon wins"?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think you're right, actually. Although Russia notched up quite a few space firsts (first satellite, living creature, man, woman, etc. in space), America did indeed land dudes on the moon. Quite a few times.

    At which point Russia went "Well, we weren't planning a moon mission anyway, so there!" (and quietly dismantled their moon-mission projects)

    Still. Good stuff.

    ReplyDelete

Rules for submitting comments:

1. No profanity. I maintain the pretense that this is a family-friendly site.

2. Stay on topic. A bit of straying and off-hand commenting is okay, but hijacking the discussion is right out.

3. No ad hominem attacks. Attack the subject, not the other person on the thread and keep the discussion civil.

4. No spamming or commercial endorsements. These get deleted immediately.

Tip: Beware of putting hyperlinks in your comments–especially at the end. For some reason, Blogger interprets these as spam.

Note: Due to the recent spate of anonymous spamming, registration for comments is now required.