Sputnik went “beep … beep” and yelled out loud: “IT’S ON”

Once upon a time, there was a satellite weighting 84 kilogram*. Produced by a country, that nobody would have ever expected to be able to kick off a competition, namely the Cold War (I am well aware that this was not the only reason why there was such a thing as the cold war, but still,

I am sure it contributed to the whole broiling situation between the US and Sowjet Union). Russia was the first to send a satellite (that was capable of making “beep … beep … beep“) into the Earth’s orbit 50 years ago. If you ask me the satellite wasn’t just sending “beep”s to Earth. It rather was screaming “It’s on” to Western space agency, NASA. In modern face-book-terms the Western world, considering themselves as more modern that anything else, was b!t@h-slapped. Their reaction? A Race For Space. Due to a lack of scientists, the government had to invest into reforming the school system putting an emphasis on science (Physics&Co, subjects that we take as granted). Their motivation was caused by a striving to catch up with the Sowjets. And wait, there’s a shocker: Both sides realized that satellites could (they are, indeed) useful for rocket launching/controlling.

Admittedly, I have never wondered how space technology and space science has been having an impact on our daily lives. Sputnik is just one of the projects that have changed the lives of thousands of people. Imagine a world without weather forecasts (so vague they might be sometimes), mobile phone, GPS (Global positioning system), Internet and many more fields. So after thinking about what our lives would look like without having some little helpers up there, I finally came to the conclusion that it’s worth it investing in space scientific studies and technology. Nobody knows what little invention will improve our daily lives; I just don’t think its the locked-up-iPhone brick-ish thing people keep running around with.

Just another interesting fact. You probably heard about the first dog in Space. That was actually Sputnik 2 which was boarded with a dog who should have survived for approx. 10 days and then should have been poisoned by some self releasing food ration. However, the dog called Laika didn’t survive for that long and presumably did short after the take of due to stress and heat. I feel pity for the dog, and again, I am surprised that I never wondered whether the dog came back to Earth or not. Kind of sad, because a “Getting the dog back on Earth” was never intended. Read more about Sputnik [wikipedia.org]

*No, it was not filled with Vodka (I had to put that into footnote, because I didn’t wanted to hint the nation’s name :) Is that being “alltagsracist”? I didn’t mean to, but just couldn’t help.