Sputnik

This evening we attended a panel discussion titled "Reminiscences of Sputnik and its 50 Year Aftermath." The event was hosted by the local chapter of the National Space Society and the Panelists were Ernst Stuhlinger and Konrad Dannenberg, both original Von Braun team members from Germany, along with Dave Christensen, early Huntsville rocket team member.

The first photo shows (L to R) Dave Christensen, Ernst Stuhlinger, and Konrad Dannenberg. The second photo shows me and fellow amatuer astronomer John Young on either side of Ernst Stuhlinger.

On October 4th, 1957, the Russians announced the succesful launch of the world's first artificial satellite. They called it Sputnik, which means "Co-Traveller-1". This evening, the two German rocket scientists, in a room full of citizens whose lives were altered in many different ways by the event, described the mood and consequences surrounding the day the west learned of that little beeping metal ball that flew 500 miles above them that Fall.

The year 1957 had been designated two years earlier as the "International Geophysical Year". It was an international scientific effort that lasted from July 1, 1957 to December 31, 1958. At a conference preceding the IGY, Ernst Stulinger attended as part of a team of American scientists. He met with some of the Russian scientists working on similar projects. Ernst described his discussions with the Russians as informative and somewhat competitive. They claimed that they would be able to launch a satellite before the year's end. It seemed clear to him that the Russians were serious, but when he relayed the news to officials in Washington, they blew it off as so much Russian hot air. Those guys were always claiming something. Everyone new the US was the technological leader in every way.

As part of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA), Ernst approached General John Medaris, commander of the agency, with the news about the Russians and practically begged him to allow the Huntsville organization to pursue a satellite launch post haste. The general denied the request. He pointed out that Eisenhower did not want to provoke the Russians, thinking they may not take too kindly to a percieved spy flying overhead if launched from an Army rocket.

At the time, there was serious in-fighting between the Army, Navy, and Air Force over which branch should develop and manage large missile and rocket programs. Bob hope had even commented that "the Army has recently developed a rocket large enough to blow up the Navy." When Stuhlinger met with General Medaris right after the news of Sputnik arrived, he said the general told him, "Those damned bastards!", incredulous that the Russians had actually been able to accomplish the feat.

Immediately after news of Sputnik's successful flight, Eisenhower requested the military to respond. Dannenberg said the ABMA in Huntsville said that they could launch a satellite within 90 days. This was trumped by the Navy, who said they could launch their satellite, originally planned for a spring 1958 launch, within 60 days and they got the nod from Washington. Dannenberg went on to describe the launch of the Navy's Vanguard I on December 6, 1957. It was braodcast live on radio. The rocket was lit, rose about four feet off the launch pad, then suddenly lost power and dropped back to the ground in a fiery explosion. It was an embarassing setback for the Americans.

Von Braun's team was then called to ready their vehicle. They would not disappoint. The team had been working on a launch despite the knowledge that the Navy's rocket was planned to go first. Ernst described his own effort to construct the final stage firing mechanism. The device had to detect the angle and speed of the craft relative to the Earth and fire the last stage at just the right moment and attitude. Too soon and the rocket would simply shoot higher above the Earth and drop back down without going into orbit. Too late and the rocket would drive directly into Earth's atmosphere and burn up in reentry. He constructed the device in his garage.

The team prepared themselves for a launch on January 31, 1958 at Cape Canaveral. The converted Redstone Rocket, renamed Jupiter-C to feign a non-military image, performed flawlessly. The Explorer I satellite carried simple instrumentation that beamed back data used to discover the Van Allen belts surrounding the Earth and protecting its inhabitants from deadly solar storms. While Sputnik I fell back to Earth in early January, 1958, the Explorer I stayed aloft for more than 12 years and was still orbiting Earth when the Apollo 11 astronauts landed on the Moon. It was quite an accomplishment for the Huntsville based rocket team.

After the launch of Explorer I, General Medaris was quoted as saying he "could kiss that Sputnik on both cheeks!" There's no doubt that we all owe Sputnik a great deal of thanks for launching the space age in a way that lit a fire in the hearts of Americans and inspired this nation to achieve great heights. And it was a wonderful experience to witness the reminiscenses of these two scientists who were in the midst of the mealstrom during that exciting time in the history of Huntsville and the history of mankind.