Overheard 54 years ago 1 km from a launch pad somewhere deep within Kazakhstan:
“This is great day for Mother Russia! We have beat the capitalist pigs into space. We have proven that the soviet way, the way of the people, is superior to the dogs of the west!”
OK, I made that up, but it’s quite likely that when the Sputnik rocket, a modified R-7 Semyorka ICBM, successfully delivered the PS-1 payload into orbit this is what the Party faithful declared. That shiny sphere, with its second stage covered in mirrors so all the world could see it trailing the little satellite, would send fear into the hearts of Cold War Americans. They had beat us! How could that be?
[Image Credit: Public Domain]
The Russians were also the first to put boobs (Valentina Tereshkova) in space. Heard somewhere in Russia "One down, 24,999,999 to go."
I think you mean "two down, 49,999,998 to go."
We just proved the theory that thinking about boobs causes men's minds to…… Boooooooobs!
Nothing makes me prouder as an author to have the comments immediately turn to boobies.
Mmmmm…boobies.
Wiki has the famous Sputnik "beep" sound. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1
My father has vivid memories of listening to Sputnik on a radio as a teenager and standing outside late at night with my grandfather and watching it pass overhead. What a bizarre and scary time to be alive that must have been.
Nice Post