Sputnik+p8

Tessa--Sputnik Sputnik was a series of unmanned satellites launched by the Soviet Union to put the first satellite on earths orbit. The word Sputnik means traveling companion. The Sputniks were designed by the Soviet Unions premier space engineer, Sergei Korolov.

//Sputnik 1// was essentially a 184-pound radio transmitter enclosed in a steel case with four antennas sticking out of it. The satellite instruments were designed to study the density, temperature, and concentration of electrons in upper atmosphere and to transmit the results back to earth. It took 95 minutes to circle earth in an elliptical orbit. //Sputnik 1// made about 4,000 trips around earth before gradually losing altitude and disintegrating as it re-entered denser atmosphere on January 4, 1958.

Soviet Launched //Sputnik 2// less than a month later on November 3, 1957. //Sputnik 2// weighed 1,120 pounds and flew at much higher altitude. //Sputnik 2// stayed in orbit for 163 days before distinguishing in April 1958. //Sputnik 2// carried a passenger, a dog named Laika. After a week the oxygen gave out and she died.

There were 10 Sputniks in total that the Soviet Union created. Each one was different in size and even shape. Most of the Sputniks that went up carried dogs, mice, and even dummies. The laboratory dogs were mostly sent up. //Sputnik 2// carried a dog by the name of Laika and she did not make it all the way, her oxygen ran low after a week n died. //Sputnik 4// carried a dummy passenger, but the aircraft disintegrated in October 1965. //Sputnik 5// had 2 dogs named Belka and Streika, but it also carried 2 rats and 28 mice. The day after it launched, the 2 cabins that had the dogs ejected and headed back down to the ground, slowed by parachutes, where farmers recovered them in a field. They were both alive and healthy.

//Sputnik 6// carried two dogs named Pchelka and Mushka. Sputnik 6 was suppose to be the last test of Sputnik series, but when they were changing orbit something went wrong and the spacecraft burned up. //Sputnik 9// went up on March 9, 1961 and carried a dog named Chernushka. //Sputnik 9// went up and came back down safely to earth, so did //Sputnik 10,// which launched on March 25, 1961. //Sputnik 10// carried a dog named Zvedochka, and it came down safely to earth. This was the last of the Sputnik series.

On April 5, 1961 Yuri Gagarin made his historic flight aboard the Vostok 1 to become the first human to circle earth in a space craft.

Source Citation 1) Lewis, Cathleen S. "Sputnik." World Book Online Reference Center. 2007. [Place of access. Date of access.] http://www.worldbookonline.com.ezproxy.cooklib.org:2048/wb/Article?id=ar527080 2)"Sputnik." UXL Science. Online ed. Detroit: UXL, 2003. Student Resource Center - Gold. Thomson Gale. Cook Memorial Public Library. 6 Feb. 2007 http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&prodId=SRC-1&docId=EJ2109200909&source=gale&srcprod=SRCG&userGroupName=ccscm&version=1.0 3) Kuhm, Betsy. The Race for Space. Minneapolis, MN. Twenty First Century Books, copyright 2007.