Sputnik - 50 years on and it's all about America

Calin · #1 04-10-2007, 04:28 PM

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science...iversary_N.htm

Got to love this news article from USA acknowledging the USSR was first to orbit the Earth with the launch of Sputnik - 50th Anniversary .... all of three sentences ... the rest of the article is about the USA, USA, USA .....

"Fifty years ago next week, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I — little more than a beeping metal ball — into space. Never before had an artificial object orbited the Earth." ...
"A half-century ago, all it took to grab America's attention was Sputnik, a flying metal satellite not much bigger than a beach ball."

The rest of the article is about USA's response, which is not exactly an anniversary article about Sputnik at all ... hats off they do acknowledge someone else did it first .... but WE GOT TO THE MOON !!!! .... and did I mention WE GOT TO THE MOON, because without "WE GOT TO THE MOON USA" ... the rest of the world would be still tossing up metal beach balls that go 'beeeeep' apparently ......

Congrats USSR on a world class effort with your German scientists vs USA with it's German scientists ......

DougAdams · #2 04-10-2007, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calin

Congrats USSR on a world class effort with your German scientists vs USA with it's German scientists ......

Yes, and if you believe the story, the USA German scientists were ready to go with their satellite, but had to wait for the US Navy to try first.

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #3 04-10-2007, 04:46 PM

. . . and the Russians still make the best Optics

tornado33 · #4 04-10-2007, 06:24 PM

Sputnik did the world a great favour, as it spurred both the USA and Russia to keep up space exploration, and the great many benefits sattelite technology has given us.
Scott

xelasnave · #5 04-10-2007, 08:09 PM

I was there... I saw it as a boy of 10 years.. it won me an art competion..the subject for the art works was "speed" in the days when "speed" was not a term for a dangerous drug.

Well there were paintings of fast cars, boats, plans etc but I painted the little metal ball against a back drop of a dark blue "space" .. as it was the fastest thing man could lay claim to ....I took out first prize...
alex

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #6 04-10-2007, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xelasnave

I was there... I saw it as a boy of 10 years.. it won me an art competion..the subject for the art works was "speed" in the days when "speed" was not a term for a dangerous drug.

Well there were paintings of fast cars, boats, plans etc but I painted the little metal ball against a back drop of a dark blue "space" .. as it was the fastest thing man could lay claim to ....I took out first prize...
alex

That reminds me of an old Advertising gimmick.

I forget the name of the company that makes the tyres for the Space Shuttle (Good Year I think), but when the first one landed back safely to Earth, the company released a whole batch of ads in magazines

"5 million miles on one set of tyres"

sheeny (Al) · #7 04-10-2007, 08:41 PM

It's all about spin!

Al.

Ric · #8 04-10-2007, 11:33 PM

I find it interesting that they were able to get to the Moon in the 60's and 70's with the equivalent computing power of a commodore 64 but have done nothing since. Did someone steal the instruction manual.

I cant help but think we should have progressed a lot further by now.

Cheers

spearo (Frank) · #9 05-10-2007, 05:12 AM

too true Calin,
I was thinking exacly the same watching TV newscasts that did the same, quick mention of Sputnik 1 then tons of footage of USA's moon landing!

And now the US is going to get to Mars ... i suspect hat even if it ends up happenning, and as a "team effort" it'll be who put their foot on soil first or who zipped up their suit first or "I thought of it first..."

gaa_ian (Ian) · #10 05-10-2007, 06:50 AM

I have added my 2 bob's worth to Celebrate the little bleeping balls 50th on my blog page www.nightskysecrets.com/blog , I will have to do a bit more research to bring the balance back and acknowledge the Russian achievement !

h0ughy (David) · #11 05-10-2007, 09:27 AM

go the rushkiies!!! all in all I think it was great they pushed each other, just wished they kept going

alan meehan (Alan) · #12 05-10-2007, 10:22 AM

nasa spent millions $ to invent a space pen that would write in space the russians used a pencil.congrats to the ussr well done...

radu5er · #13 05-10-2007, 07:41 PM

Of course it's all about the United States...

We are the greatest nation that ever inhabited the planet!

( Relax...it's a joke Joyce!

)

Gerald Sargent · #14 06-10-2007, 10:48 AM

Perhaps we should give the Americans a bit
of credit, the Mars Rovers have behaved way
beyond expectations as did the two first outer
planetary probes, and both have given us a
lot of information. However Russian pure science
should never be underestimated.

Chrissyo (Chris) · #15 06-10-2007, 12:39 PM

What, you expect an article from NASA about the achievements in the field of space travel/exploration of the last 50 years to not focus on the NASA achievements? They deserve credit too (though I will admit, most of the articles etc I've read in the last few days have concerned mostly NASA, probably because I don't read any Russian articles).

Quote:

nasa spent millions $ to invent a space pen that would write in space the russians used a pencil.congrats to the ussr well done...

That story isn't actually true. I believe the space-pen was developed by an independent company, not NASA (though NASA may have invested some money into it). The reason is, NASA didn't want to use pencils for risk that the shavings would clog/ruin the air circulation systems (something which the Soviets didn't worry about because they used a more heavy duty air system (if I remember correctly), and they were always a bit rougher with things like this as compared to NASA). This just seems to be another one of those "Lol, stupid America!" stories that everyone likes to tell due to the current popularity (or lack thereof) of America.

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #16 06-10-2007, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrissyo

That story isn't actually true. I believe the space-pen was developed by an independent company, not NASA (though NASA may have invested some money into it). The reason is, NASA didn't want to use pencils for risk that the shavings would clog/ruin the air circulation systems (something which the Soviets didn't worry about because they used a more heavy duty air system (if I remember correctly), and they were always a bit rougher with things like this as compared to NASA).

Yep - It was the Fisher Space Pen company that developed the pen, not NASA - at all. I'm a collector of these fine instruments - one of which I use every day. Pencil shavings were considered a (possibly big) problem for the finer tolerances that NASA built into its systems. An even bigger problem than wood shavings was the graphite powder produced. Now - if only that pesky graphite wasn't so darn conductive...... Jeez - aren't the Americans silly for trying to think about the potential electrical problems that could occur a little more than the Russians?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrissyo

This just seems to be another one of those "Lol, stupid America!" stories that everyone likes to tell due to the current popularity (or lack thereof) of America.

With all due respect all, it is getting very boring..... The Americans have, and will have, more phenomenal achievements than any other country on the planet in this area of endeavour. They have put more effort in than anyone - so why should we begrudge them their well-earned pride? Good on us Aussies - the tall poppy syndrome is as alive as ever.