Sputnik 1

Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched to Earth’s elliptical low orbit by Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. This significant event marks the beginning of the space race between Soviet Union and USA, which eventually landed a man on the moon and beyond.

Sputnik was a 58cm diameter polished steel sphere with four antennas. It was broadcasting a radio signal towards Earth until its three silver-zinc batteries ran out in 3 weeks. Sputnik continued its orbit for two months until it dropped into atmosphere, burning up on reentry on 4 January 1958. During its travel, the Sputnik did 1440 complete orbits around Earth and travelled over 70.000.000km.

Besides starting a “Space Race”, the launch of Sputnik also provided scientists with a wealth of new information, especially about the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. Sputnik travelled at about 8km/s, completing each orbit at just over 96 minutes. Transmitting signal at two frequencies (20.005MHz and 40.002MHz), radio operators all around the globe were picking it up for 21 days until the transmitter batteries died out.

The kit

There is really not much to say about the kit. A simple two piece sphere with nice details, some PE parts and brass rods for the antennas. The kits goes together nicely and is a nice quick build that can be used as a palate cleansing build between more complex builds. I recommend this kit to all modellers, from beginners and upwards.

Model Data
Company: Red Iron Models / RIM24001
Scale: 1:24
Aftermarket: /

6 additional images. Click to enlarge.