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Sputnik 1 and the front page of the Oct. 9, 1957, Daily Press, featuring a story about the interruption of the satelliteüs beeps.
Nowadays, it's difficult to imagine how a simple beeping radio signal could captivate the world.
But it did, after the Soviet Union announced on Oct. 5, 1957, that it had launched Sputnik, the world's first man-made satellite. For several days, the only proof of the claim was the steady beep, beep, beep that Sputnik broadcast as it circled the globe.
Forty years later, the beep is back. Earlier this month, Russian cosmonauts launched a replica of Sputnik 1 from the space station Mir. Thought a third the size of the original 183-pound sphere, Sputnik 40 is recreating what was once a solitary signal from space.
"There's a continuous beep, beep - about 80 beeps a minute," said Jim Byrd, an amateur radio operator from Newport News who has heard it. "That's just like the original Sputnik."
The launch of the melon-sized replica during a spacewalk on Nov. 3 went largely unnoted in the United States. Press accounts the following day focused on the efforts by cosmonauts to boost Mir's diminished energy supply and on how their spacewalk was hampered by problems with their spacesuits.
If today's Sputnik beep is overshadowed by the problems of the Russian space program, the original beep was a testament to its prowess.
Though some scientists and politicians argued otherwise, many Americans saw Sputnik 1 as a blow to America's prestige - and evidence that the Soviet Union was ahead technologically and militarily. One U.S. Senator said unless the country changed its defense policies, the Soviets would move from "superiority to supremacy."
Five days passed after the launch before the Soviet Union released a photo of Sputnik 1. In the meantime, all people had was their imaginations and the beep. Chuck Eldred was a freshman at the University of Vermont when he heard it.
Note - Small box underneath picture of Sputnik 1
Sputnik comes from a Russian word that means traveling companion. Among Russian astronomers, it also meant satellite - an object that revolves around another.
The Earth's original satellite is the moon. When Sputnik 1 (pronounced Spoot'-neek) was put into orbit on Oct. 4, 1957, it was called the "world's first artifical moon." In the days that followed, it was called "baby moon", and the "Russian moon" and the "first of the man-made moons."
The first "American moon", Explorer 1, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Jan. 31, 1958.
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"I think we all heard the beep, beep, beep over the news," said Eldred, now head of the spacecraft analysis program at the NASA Langley Research Center. "It was a whole new concept of having something man-made in orbit around the Earth. That's something we sort of take for granted today."
The Sputnik beep was important for the technological achievement is symbolized. But especially in the first days after the launch, the beep itself was big news. When it mysteriously ceased for six hours on Oct. 8, 1957, the Daily Press played the story at the top of the front page. A meteor had temporarily interrupted the satellite's transmissions, the Soviets said later.
Vic Delnore of Norfolk read about the beep in the newspaper, then heard it on this short-wave radio at his home in San Diego.
"I tuned in, and, after several days of trying, sure enough, I heard a beep, beep, beep," said Delnore, who was a freshman in high school at the time.
"It was, "Wow, this is from space. I was really excited."
The Soviets asked amateur radio operators around the world to record when and where they heard the beep. Delnore sent a letter to an address he had gotten from Radio Moscow. A few weeks later, he got back a shiny blue postcard with a drawing of Sputnik streaking across the sky on one side and written verification of his encounter with the future on the other.
Sputnik spurred the United States to beef up its technological research, in large part out of fear of falling behind the Soviets. It also inspired young people like Eldred and Delnore to pursue careers in engineering and aerospace.
"It was really a tremendous incentive. This was a very challenging frontier and a very exciting place to be involved," Eldred said.
Delnore is now a flight researcher for Lockheed-Martin at NASA Langley. he is also still an active amateur radio operator, but he has not tuned in to hear the Sputnik replica.
"It's nothing special now," he said.
But he's happy to know that other people might be listening. "Maybe some 14-year-old will tune in, and it will launch him or her on a career," he said.
Note - Contents of the sub-box on the upper right of the second page of the article
The beeping radio signal from a replica of the first Sputnik can be heard on short-wave radios and police scanners at 145.820 MHz, but only when the satellite passes overhead. The replica, called Sputnik 40, usually crosses Hampton Roads four times a day, for a few minutes each time, just behind the Russian space station Mir. Jim Byrd,, an amateur radio operator from Newport News, has calculated when Mir and Sputnik 40 will pass the area and has put the times and dates on the Internet at http://www.seva.net/reg/satellite/radio/mir9711r.html.
Note - Click here for the December 1997 transit schedule with respect to the southeast Virginia area (updated monthly).
Don't have a radio? You can hear the beep from Sputnik 40 by calling the Daily Press 1-Line at 928-1111, then enter category 2337 (or BEEP). The Sputnik 40 replica was a joint project of two school groups in Russia and the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean. For more information about the project, check the Sputnik 40 home page at http://www.oceanes.fr/~fr5fc/angspoutnik.html.
(End of newspaper article)
A small note here for clarification, the shortwave frequency region (techincally "HF" or "high frequency") is defined to be from 3 to 30 MHz, and the VHF ("Very High Frequency") region is defined as the frequency range from 30 to 300 MHz. The original Sputnik 1 satellite transmitted on 20.008 MHz, this was a signal in the shortwave region. Sputnik 40 however, is transmitting on 145.820 MHz and this is technically a VHF signal. As of December 12, 1997 Sputnik 40 is still being heard and should continue for the next few weeks before the batteries fail. Reentry of Sputnik 40 into the atmosphere may occur in perhaps 6 months to a year, largely depending upon the level of solar flux (wind) conditions in the coming months. It is extremely unlikely that any debris from Sputnik 40 will ever be recovered.
I can say however, that my personal memory of that famous and celebrated signal from Sputnik 40 will not fade away. Many thanks go the the students and project coordinators that made the Sputnik 40 student project such a resounding success!
James E. Byrd