The Sputnik rocket was an uncrewed

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

al carrier rocket designed by Sergei Korolev in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, derived from the R-7 Semyorka

ICBM An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...

. On 4 October 1957, it was used to perform the world's first

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

launch, placing ''

Sputnik 1 Sputnik 1 (, , ''Satellite 1''), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program ...

'' into a

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

. Two versions of the Sputnik were built, the Sputnik-PS ( GRAU index 8K71PS), which was used to launch ''Sputnik 1'' and later ''

Sputnik 2 Sputnik 2 (, , ''Satellite 2'', or Prosteyshiy Sputnik 2 (PS-2, , ''Simplest Satellite 2'', launched on 3 November 1957, was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit, and the first to carry an animal into orbit, a Soviet space dog named ...

'', and the Sputnik (8A91), which failed to launch a satellite in April 1958, and subsequently launched '' Sputnik 3'' on 15 May 1958. A later member of the R-7 family, the Polyot, used the same configuration as the Sputnik rocket, but was constructed from Voskhod components. Because of the similarity, the Polyot was sometimes known as the Sputnik 11A59.

Specifications

*First Stage: Block B, V, G, D (four strap-on boosters) **Gross mass: 43.0 tons **Empty mass: 3.400 tons **Thrust (vac): 4 × 99,000 kgf = 396 Mgf (3.89 MN) ** Isp: 306 s (3,000 N·s/kg) **Burn time: 120 s (2 min) ** Isp (sl): 250 s (2,450 N·s/kg) **Diameter: **Span: **Length: (without nozzles) **Propellants: LOX/

Kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...

**Engines: 1 x RD-107-8D74PS per booster = 4 *Second Stage: Block A (core stage) **Gross mass: 94.0 tons **Empty mass: 7.495 tons **Thrust (vac): 99,000 kgf (970 kN) **Isp: 308 s (3,020 N·s/kg) **Burn time: 310 s (5 min 10 s) **Isp (sl): 241 s (2,360 N·s/kg) **Diameter: **Span: **Length: **Propellants: LOX/

**Engine: 1 x RD-108-8D75PS *Total mass: 267 tons (589,000 lb) *Total span: * LEO payload: 500 kg *Total liftoff thrust: 3.89 MN Roket_Launcher_R-7

Sputnik 8A91

The Sputnik 8A91 had more powerful 8D76 and 8D77 engines installed, increasing its payload capacity, and allowing it to launch much heavier satellites than ''Sputnik 1'' and ''Sputnik 2''. It was launched two times, in 1958. The first launch, on 27 April, failed due to vibrations that unexpectedly occurred during the flight along the longitudinal axis of the rocket. On 15 May, it successfully launched ''Sputnik 3''.

Sputnik specifications

*Stage number: 0 - Strap-on boosters; 4 x Sputnik 8A91-0 **Gross mass: 43.0 tons **Empty mass: 3.400 tons **Thrust (vac): 4 × 99,000 kgf = 396 Mgf (3.89 MN) ** Isp: 310 s (3,040 N·s/kg) **Burn time: 130 s (2 min 10 s) **Isp (sl): 252 s (2,470 N·s/kg) **Diameter: **Span: **Length: (without nozzles) **Propellants: LOX/Kerosene **Engines: 1 x RD-107-8D76 per booster (4 total) *Stage number: 1 - Core stage; 1 x Sputnik 8A91-1 **Gross mass: 95.0 tons **Empty mass: 7.100 tons **Thrust (vac): 82,000 kgf (804 kN) **Isp: 315 s (3,090 N·s/kg) **Burn time: 360 s (6 min) **Isp (sl): 246 s (2,410 N·s/kg) **Diameter: **Length: **Propellants: LOX/Kerosene **Engine: 1 x RD-108-8D77 *Total mass: 269.3 tons (593,700 lb) *Total span: * LEO payload: 1,327 kg (2,925 lb) *Total liftoff thrust: 385,950 kgf (3.784 MN, 850,870 lbf)

References

{{Use British English, date=January 2014 R-7 (rocket family) Space launch vehicles of the Soviet Union Sputnik Vehicles introduced in 1957 1950s neologisms

Specifications

Sputnik 8A91

Sputnik specifications

See also

References