The launching of Sputnik on the
night of October 4, 1957 was virtually a total success. The only major
malfunction was in the system that evenly empties the propellant tanks in
the core and four boosters of the 8K71PS (also known as the SL-1 in the
West) version of the R-7 ICBM (which was designated the SS-6 or Sapwood by
NATO) that launched Sputnik. This system's failure caused the core's
RD-107 engine to shut down a second earlier than intended because of
excessive kerosene fuel consumption. This resulted in the apogee of
Sputnik being 80 kilometers (50 miles) lower than originally planned but
it still made it into a stable orbit nonetheless. The 83.6 kilogram (184
pound) satellite continued to transmit for the next three weeks before its
batteries finally gave out. Due to the ever present atmospheric drag, the
empty 7.5 metric ton (16,500 pound) Blok A core of the launch vehicle fell
from orbit on December 1, 1957 followed by the now-silent Sputnik on
January 4, 1958. The night that Sputnik
was launched, nobody could have predicted what impact it would have on the
world. According to Nikita Krushchev's own memoirs, he was informed of the
successful launch by phone, congratulated the group of engineers and
scientists involved and simply went to bed. The next morning's edition of
Pravda published an exceptionally low-key TASS press release giving
basic information about the launch and the satellite. In the West,
however, the news of the launch had an incredible impact. Despite years of
largely ignored public statements by Soviet authorities of their intent to
launch an Earth satellite, the West was caught totally off guard. Between
the radio transmissions and visual sightings of the satellite and the
spent Blok A core, people around the world had ample opportunity to
personally witness this trailblazer of the Space Age. The fact that
Sputnik weighed substantially more than the American's planned Vanguard
satellite also was noted and added to the West's fears. The Soviet
propaganda machine immediately realized the true value of the Sputnik
launch and quickly put it to good use. Unlike the initial news of the
launch, news of the world's reaction to Sputnik made the headlines and
dominated the front page of the October 6 issue of
Pravda.
Sputnik 2 is
Approved Krushchev also
quickly realized the immense propaganda value of Sputnik. Krushchev
totally bypassed the existing chain of command and consulted directly with
Korolev to determine what other space spectaculars could be mounted by the
OKB-1 design bureau. Additional satellite launches were immediately
authorized and detailed studies of lunar probes and manned satellites
began in earnest. It was also decided that the next launch, which would be
timed to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of the Revolution on
November 6, 1957, would carry a dog into earth orbit. This decision set
the stage for the Soviet's long standing practice of tying major space
missions to important political events to enhance their propaganda
value Korolev's team had been seriously
studying such a satellite proposal for at least the past year and work had
progressed quite far. In 1951 and 1952 six Soviet copies of the German V-2
rocket, known as the R-1, had been launched to high altitudes with dogs on
board in order to study the effects of rocket flight and weightlessness on
their passengers. A second series of flights in 1955 and 1956 used the
more advanced R-1D and R-1E geophysical rockets. A total of twelve dogs
were lofted to the edge of space with some of the canine cosmonauts making
two flights during the course of this program. Starting in May of 1957
another three-year long program to launch dogs to altitudes of 200 to 212
kilometers (124 to 132 miles) had begun this time using the much more
powerful R-2A rocket. The next satellite, designated Object PS-2, would
build on this experience and would compliment the existing ballistic
rocket experiment program. Despite the advance state of preparation, an
immense amount of work was still required to meet Krushchev's mandate. On
October 11 everyone involved with the satellite project was called back
from the much deserved vacations they had taken after the Sputnik launch
to quickly prepare for the next
mission. As Sputnik proved, the Soviets
obviously had the means to launch a satellite but they still did not have
the technology to successfully return a payload from Earth orbit. As a
result, recovering the PS-2's canine passenger was not an option as it had
been with the ballistic test flights. With this "engineering compromise",
the dog could be carried in a relatively simple pressurized cabin similar
to those used in the ballistic rocket flights. Like Object PS, the Object
PS-2 would be an unstabilized satellite without any complicated attitude
control system thus further simplifying the new satellite's
development. While canine cabin designs
had be studied and flown on short ballistic flights, modifications to this
hardware were required to extend the life of the onboard systems and keep
the passenger alive for little over a week of flight instead of just for a
few minutes. A food dispenser was included to supply the dog with a
balanced diet of food and water in a gelatinized form. A much more
advanced air regeneration system to maintain proper oxygen levels in the
cabin was developed for the flight. The padded cabin interior was quite
cramped but there was enough room for its canine passenger to lay down,
sit, or stand. Attached to this cabin
was a modified version of the backup Object PS satellite. Instead of a
rudimentary radio transmitter and telemetry system, this sphere carried
the much more sophisticated Tral-D telemetry system that was being
developed for Object D. This new system had to be pressed into service for
this flight to handle the large volume of engineering and bio-telemetry.
In order to conserve its batteries, Tral-D was programmed to transmit data
for only 15 minutes during each orbit. A pair of spectrophotometers was
also carried to study solar ultraviolet and cosmic soft X-ray emissions.
Finally Object PS-2 was equipped with a slow-scan television camera to
observe its passenger. This system was capable of transmitting ten
100-line video frames per second back to the ground. All together Object
PS-2 was roughly conical in shape with a height of 4 meters (13 feet) and
a base diameter of 2 meters (7 feet). With a total mass of 508.3 kilograms
(1,119 pounds), it was six times more massive than the original Sputnik
satellite, Object PS.
The dog chosen to ride Object
PS-2 into orbit was a six kilogram (13 pound) part-Samoyed terrier mongrel
female who, like many earlier space dogs, was "recruited" from the streets
of Moscow. Named Kudryavka (Little Curly) by her trainers, she was
officially renamed Laika (Barker) after her breed. Dogs of this breed were
ideal for such flights due to their small size and even temperament.
Strays from the Moscow streets were chosen since they were generally
strong and could endure the hardships of hunger and extreme cold. In case
Laika was not fit to make the flight, she had a backup named Albina. A
third dog, named Mukha, was to serve as part of the ground test team but
she was removed after she would not eat properly.
Since the 8A91 satellite launch vehicle
(also known as the SL-2) version of the R-7 under development to launch
Object D was still not available, Object PS-2 would be sent into orbit
using the same stripped-down version of the R-7 ICBM that launched Sputnik
designated 8K71PS. This would turn out to be the last flight of this
interim satellite launch vehicle. The new satellite also required a new
and larger conical shroud to protect it during its ascent into orbit. A
separation system under development also had to be hastily finished so
that Object PS-2 would be released from the R-7 core once in orbit. On
October 18, 1957 8K71PS serial number M1-2PS arrived at Tashkent 50's
NIIP-5 Test Range in Soviet Kazakhstan (which later became the Baikonur
Cosmodrome) and final integration of the rocket stages and satellite
payload began.
The Mission and Its
Impact Before launch,
Laika was carefully groomed by attendants and electrodes were attached to
her body to monitor her respiration and heartbeat . A rubber bag was also
strapped to her hind quarters to collect waste. Finally she was fitted
with a special harness and secured inside the cabin of Object PS-2. On the
morning of November 3, 1957, just three days prior to the Revolution
anniversary, Object PS-2 (now designated Sputnik 2) was successfully
placed into a 225 by 1,671 kilometer (140 by 1039 mile) orbit inclined
65.3 degrees to the equator with a period of 103.75 minutes.
While Sputnik 2 successfully made it
into Earth orbit, the flight was not without problems. The nose cone was
jettisoned after reaching orbit as planned but Object PS-2 failed to cut
itself loose from the spent Blok A core of its 8K71PS launch vehicle. As a
result, the thermal regulation system could not operate properly. Because
of this and some thermal insulation that was ripped away from the payload
(presumably when the nosecone separated), the temperatures inside the
cabin quickly soared to as high as 40 C (104 F). The dog's vital signs
indicated that she was frightened but had survived the trip to orbit.
Despite the problems, a successful launch was announced by Soviet
authorities. With the announcement of the
launch of Sputnik 2 only a month after Sputnik 1, the concerns of the
public in the West were heightened even further. While the design and
capabilities of the launch vehicle were still unknown, the much greater
mass of this new satellite indicated that the Soviet Union's rockets were
much more powerful than their American counterparts. Soviet statements
that they possessed an operational ICBM could no longer be ignored.
Obviously the capabilities of the Soviet's new missiles were a grave
threat to the security of the West. As time went on this perception lead
to the "Missile Gap" issue of the 1960 presidential election that John F.
Kennedy won. The significance of the fact that this satellite carried an
animal was not lost to those in the West. While there were animal rights
activists who expressed concern about the well being and safe return of
Laika, her launch into orbit demonstrated that the Soviet Union was quite
serious about space exploration and, in the words of nervous American
politicians, in seizing the high
ground. Originally the Sputnik 2 mission
was to last for about ten days after which, contrary to past rumors, Laika
would die from asphyxiation. The problems with controlling the cabin
temperature, however, shortened Laika's life significantly. Readings
telemetered to the ground during the hours after launch indicated that she
was eating but that she was agitated and barking. When exactly Laika
perished has still not been revealed but she likely succumbed to heat
exhaustion during the first couple of days of flight. Sputnik 2 itself
continued to transmit until a week after its launch. The now-inert Sputnik
2 and the spent core of the R-7 launch vehicle remained in Earth orbit for
a total of 162 days with reentry coming on April 14, 1958. While the
historic flight of Sputnik 2 was not a total success, it did prove that
extended periods of weightlessness were survivable and thus opened the way
for the human exploration of space.
More
Information This article
is the second in a series commemorating the 40th anniversary of the
beginning of the Space Age. The first article, "Sputnik: The First Man
Made Earth Satellite" can be found in the October 1997
issue of SpaceViews.
Bibliography Colin Burgess, "Dogs Who Rode Rockets",
Spaceflight, Vol. 38, No. 12, pp. 421-423, December 1996 Sven
Grahn, "Sputnik 2 - Was It Really Built in Less Than a Month?", http://www.users.wineasy.se/svengrahn/histind/Sputnik2/Sputnik2.htm,
Posted October 16, 1997 James Harford, Korolev: How One Man
Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon, John Wiley
& Sons, Inc., 1997 Timothy Varfolomeyev, "Sputnik Era Launches",
Spaceflight, Vol. 39, No. 10, pp. 331-332, October 1997
Raketno-Kosmichekaya Korporatsiya Energia Imeni S.P. Koroleva 1946-1996
(in Russian), RKK Energia, 1996 |