3.5 Entering the Age of Space Flight
149
was designed as an aluminum-alloy-sealed ball-shaped container with a diameter of 0.58 m and a total weight of 83.62 kg, filled with dry nitrogen with
a pressure of 0.12 MPa. Its main body was made out of two hemispheres
2 mm thick, connected with 36 bolts. Four spring whip antennas were installed
symmetrically around the satellite, one pair of which is 2.4 m long and the other
3.9 m long. The special spring mechanism was designed to deploy antennas to
the angle of 35 deg toward the major axis of the container, immediately after the
spacecraft had separated from the rocket. Two radio transmitters working alternately are equipped with the satellite, with working frequencies of 20.005 MHz
and 40.002 MHz respectively. The scientific objectives of the satellite are to
determine the density of the upper atmosphere as its orbit decays, detect the
radio wave distribution throughout the ionosphere, and verify theoretical calculations and technical solutions associated with delivering the satellite into its
orbit.
(4) The fourth task is to build the ground control network. In order to measure
and control the R-7 missile equipped with radio control, an extensive ground
control network with two groups of measurement sites had been deployed
before 1957, spreading over a vast distance of more than 6000 km across the
USSR. The measurement sites were known as IP in its Russian acronym. A
group of tracking stations responsible for the flight control of the R-7 missile,
known as Taiga region, was stretched downrange from the launch site in
Tyuratam along with the flight path, including nine measurement sites with
the number form IP-1 to IP-9. Another group of stations, known as Kama
region, were responsible for tracking of the warhead reentry over the target
range in the Kamchatka Peninsula, including six measurement sites with the
number from IP-12 to IP-17. The command and control station in the network,
IP-1, was located at Site 18 of the NIIP-5 test range in Tyuratam, only about
1.5 km behind the launchpad for the R-7 missile. In May 1957, on the basis
of the R-7 control network, the Soviet Ministry of Defense officially ordered
to form a “Center on management and coordination of work of complex of
means of measurements, communications and unified time service”, and 13
detached Scientific Measurement Stations (NIP), to control and communicate
with Sputnik-1. The entire network was designated as Command and Measurement Complex (KIK), including 13 NIP stations: NIP-1 at Tyuratam (IP-1),
NIP-2 at Makat near the town of Guriev, NIP-3 at Sary-Shagan on the western
coast of Lake Balkhash, NIP-4 at Yeniseisk in Western Siberia, NIP-5 at Iskhup,
NIP-6 at Yelizovo on the Kamchatka Peninsula, NIP-7 at Klyuchi (Barnaul),
NIP-8 at Bolshevo on the northeast of Moscow, NIP-9 at Krasnoe Selo near St.
Petersburg, NIP-10 at Simferopol in the Crimean Peninsula, NIP-11 at Cape
Shartushalu near Tbilisi in Georgia, NIP-12 at Novosibirsk (Kolpashevo) in
Western Siberia and NIP-13 at Ulan-Ude on the east of Lake Baikal.
On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched the world’s first
artificial satellite of the Earth, Sputnik-1 (Ppoctexii Cpytnik-1). The satellite
entered into an elliptical orbit with a perigee altitude of 215 km, an apogee altitude of
149
was designed as an aluminum-alloy-sealed ball-shaped container with a diameter of 0.58 m and a total weight of 83.62 kg, filled with dry nitrogen with
a pressure of 0.12 MPa. Its main body was made out of two hemispheres
2 mm thick, connected with 36 bolts. Four spring whip antennas were installed
symmetrically around the satellite, one pair of which is 2.4 m long and the other
3.9 m long. The special spring mechanism was designed to deploy antennas to
the angle of 35 deg toward the major axis of the container, immediately after the
spacecraft had separated from the rocket. Two radio transmitters working alternately are equipped with the satellite, with working frequencies of 20.005 MHz
and 40.002 MHz respectively. The scientific objectives of the satellite are to
determine the density of the upper atmosphere as its orbit decays, detect the
radio wave distribution throughout the ionosphere, and verify theoretical calculations and technical solutions associated with delivering the satellite into its
orbit.
(4) The fourth task is to build the ground control network. In order to measure
and control the R-7 missile equipped with radio control, an extensive ground
control network with two groups of measurement sites had been deployed
before 1957, spreading over a vast distance of more than 6000 km across the
USSR. The measurement sites were known as IP in its Russian acronym. A
group of tracking stations responsible for the flight control of the R-7 missile,
known as Taiga region, was stretched downrange from the launch site in
Tyuratam along with the flight path, including nine measurement sites with
the number form IP-1 to IP-9. Another group of stations, known as Kama
region, were responsible for tracking of the warhead reentry over the target
range in the Kamchatka Peninsula, including six measurement sites with the
number from IP-12 to IP-17. The command and control station in the network,
IP-1, was located at Site 18 of the NIIP-5 test range in Tyuratam, only about
1.5 km behind the launchpad for the R-7 missile. In May 1957, on the basis
of the R-7 control network, the Soviet Ministry of Defense officially ordered
to form a “Center on management and coordination of work of complex of
means of measurements, communications and unified time service”, and 13
detached Scientific Measurement Stations (NIP), to control and communicate
with Sputnik-1. The entire network was designated as Command and Measurement Complex (KIK), including 13 NIP stations: NIP-1 at Tyuratam (IP-1),
NIP-2 at Makat near the town of Guriev, NIP-3 at Sary-Shagan on the western
coast of Lake Balkhash, NIP-4 at Yeniseisk in Western Siberia, NIP-5 at Iskhup,
NIP-6 at Yelizovo on the Kamchatka Peninsula, NIP-7 at Klyuchi (Barnaul),
NIP-8 at Bolshevo on the northeast of Moscow, NIP-9 at Krasnoe Selo near St.
Petersburg, NIP-10 at Simferopol in the Crimean Peninsula, NIP-11 at Cape
Shartushalu near Tbilisi in Georgia, NIP-12 at Novosibirsk (Kolpashevo) in
Western Siberia and NIP-13 at Ulan-Ude on the east of Lake Baikal.
On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched the world’s first
artificial satellite of the Earth, Sputnik-1 (Ppoctexii Cpytnik-1). The satellite
entered into an elliptical orbit with a perigee altitude of 215 km, an apogee altitude of