Hello All,

If any of you know anyone connected with the International Space Station program (or “know anyone who knows someone connected with it”), I have an idea for October 4 (this could be done very easily and at *zero* cost, using the ISS’s e-mail system to "deliver a package" [an audio file]). At the appropriate time that evening, the ISS could broadcast *this* familiar sound (see: http://www.dd1us.de/sounds/sputnk1b.wav [it’s from this selection of recordings of numerous historic U.S.S.R. *and* U.S. spacecraft: http://www.dd1us.de/spacesounds%201.html ]). Also:

Doing it (simulcasting it) through the ISS’s amateur radio station would be appropriate, because Sputnik I's original transmissions were made on typical amateur (ham) radio frequencies of 20.005 MHz and 40.002 MHz. Plus, here (see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HcikA8pxiQ ) is an English-language Roscosmos TV mini-documentary about Sputnik I, which combines archival film footage with interviews with the surviving principals who developed and launched it—the story of Sergei Korolev’s political struggles to launch it (apparently not all members of the Politburo understood its historic [or even propaganda, which is surprising] significance). As well:

The day before this, October 3, will be the 75th anniversary of the V-2’s first successful flight (see: http://www.youtube.com/results?sear...sful+V-2+launch ), when it reached the edge of space; these two special dates would make great “historical hook” days for scale V-2 and R-7/Sputnik launch events, whether for scale competition, sport (fun) flying, or educational enrichment for school history class students. There are several V-2 kits available in various scales, and the MPC Vostok kits and Peter Alway’s simple yet pretty “Hi-Fi” Vostok plan (in his book “The Art of Scale Model Rocketry” [which will soon be—if it isn’t already—downloadable from the NAR’s website www.nar.org ]) can easily be converted into R-7/Sputnik scale models.

I hope this information will be helpful.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
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NAR #54895 SR

I think the Russians already have something similar planned.

Let me find the link. . . . .

__________________
NAR 79743
NARTrek Silver
I miss being SAM 062

Awaiting First Launch: Too numerous to count
Finishing: Zooch Saturn V; Alway/Nau BioArcas; Estes Expedition; TLP Standard
Repair/Rescue: Cherokee-D (2); Centuri Nike-Smoke; MX-774
On the Bench: 2650;
Dream Stage: 1/39.37 R-7

Thank you; I'm curious to see what they're planning. Also:

When the *75th* anniversary rolls around in October of 2032, it would be great if they launch a functioning replica of Sputnik I, atop an R-7 replica (the core stage and boosters of a Soyuz rocket, sans third stage, would be essentially an R-7). The Soyuz core stage, like that of the R-7 which orbited Sputnik I (the core stage was what most people actually saw in 1957; the satellite itself was much dimmer, about 6th magnitude), could be fitted with polished metal plates so that it too would be a very bright, conspicuous object, and:

Putting the Sputnik I replica (which could transmit on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz like the original, and perhaps on other frequencies as well) into a more highly-inclined orbit would enable everyone in the world to see and hear it. Such a venture could be crowdfunded, perhaps as a co-operative project (with media coverage and Operation Moonwatch-type optical tracking [plus Minitrack-type radio tracking], for public participation) between various scientific, cultural, and historical foundations, companies, and interested individuals. The optical trackers could also even track Sputnik's longer-lived "rivals," Vanguard I, II, and III (and their final stages), which are still in orbit today.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Well . . . .

Just the R-7 would be about $50 million. Seems kind of expensive for a commemoration for a cash-strapped country that is only able to continue its own space program because of massive underwriting from the United States.

The world population in 1957 was about 2.9 billion people still living in a relatively rural setting. Cities were much smaller and most significantly, light pollution was far less. You could buff up an R-7 sustainer all you wanted and it would be invisible to the majority of Earth's population today, (7.5 billion) living in sprawling urban settings. I live in a small city with a Dark-Sky light ordinance and I can't see the ISS except on the darkest new moon night and then only a glimpse straight overhead.

Fun idea, and probably, potentially, cool viewing in Alaska, but a failure on the pragmatism test.

__________________
NAR 79743
NARTrek Silver
I miss being SAM 062

Awaiting First Launch: Too numerous to count
Finishing: Zooch Saturn V; Alway/Nau BioArcas; Estes Expedition; TLP Standard
Repair/Rescue: Cherokee-D (2); Centuri Nike-Smoke; MX-774
On the Bench: 2650;
Dream Stage: 1/39.37 R-7

It's always interesting to compare what different folks call a "small city". To many people, Nashville is a small city. To me it's huge! Last time I looked for the ISS was probably 5 or 6 years ago. I was easily able to see it from horizon to horizon, and that was after a Walmart was built to the north of me polluting the sky to the point that I have trouble locating Polaris. When it is in its dim phase (variable star) and the sky isn't sparkly clear, I don't see it at all. Yes, I know the variation has declined in recent years and was never all that noticible, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. The ISS path was roughly from northwest toward southeast in the western half of the sky that evening.

__________________
I love sanding.

That (the cost) is why I suggested that it be funded by foundations and public subscriptions. Also:

Regarding its visibility, Sputnik I's R-7 core stage wasn't just polished; it was also fitted with mirror-polished metal plates, which made it much brighter. The two Echo satellites and Pageos, all "satelloons," were highly visible even in the middle of New York City (Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick saw an unlisted [in the newspapers] Echo 1 transit from there under unusual conditions one night, which they reported to Project Blue Book as a UFO), and they were of comparable--probably even greater--brightness, especially the closer-orbiting Echo 1 and 2 (they were seen by specular reflection, so their entire 100' [and 135' in Echo 2's case] diameter aluminized mylar surfaces weren't involved in their visibility). In addition:

I was working at the Miami planetarium when the stranded (after its 1990 launch aboard a Commercial Titan III) Intelsat 603 (an Intelsat VI series) communications satellite was rescued and fitted with a new apogee motor by the crew of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, during that orbiter's maiden flight two years later, and:

On the night when they reached the satellite, I was working at the rooftop Weintraub public observatory at the planetarium, and all of us who were there--observatory volunteers and visitors--clearly saw Intelsat 603 pass overhead, followed just a few minutes afterward by Endeavour. Even though we were in well-lit Miami (whose light pollution creates a definite glow in the sky that is visible even from Everglades National Park [I saw it when I observed Comet Hyakutake from the park in 1996]), both Intelsat 603 and Endeavour were very bright, highly-conspicuous objects.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Goodness... I live in the Seattle area - not exactly what one would call a dark sky area - and see the ISS rather readily (and as recently as last night). It seems to me to be as bright as Venus or Jupiter in the sky - but moving rather more rapidly.

The lighting conditions were odd last night - it disappeared as it reached its highest visible point. But that’s exactly what the Spot the Station email told me it should do.

Every now and then Sky Guide (an iPhone app) points me at some other satellite that I should see... but it is really rare that I actually can.

I remember going out to watch Echo I go over with my grandfather all those years ago. He lived in a suburb south of Denver.

__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE

Here (see: http://www.google.com/search?source...1.0.tab-oaoEwfs ) are links to several satellite tracking websites, which provide orbital elements and viewing times & positions. Some of them even display the selected satellites' orbits as they would appear from farther out in space, as well as geochron-type Earth views that show where it's day and night. Also:

The ISS "did a Phobos" on you (it entered the Earth's shadow when nearing culmination, just as Mars' close, inner moon is also frequently eclipsed when at its highest point in the sky). :-) Only if the phase angle is unfavorable (a satellite is almost "new," with nearly all of its sun-illuminated surface facing ^away^ from the viewer), or if a satellite is very small, high, or dark in color (giving it a low albedo), will it be very dim or invisible in a clear sky. Intelsat 603 was much smaller than Endeavour, yet it was only slightly less bright than the much larger orbiter, and:

Echo 1 and 2 decayed in 1968 and 1969, respectively (you're lucky--I wish I'd seen them!), but one or two pieces of Pageos (a near-duplicate of the 100' diameter Echo 1 [Pageos wasn't fitted with a "wafer" tracking beacon like Echo 1, as its purpose was optical-tracking geodesy, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAGEOS ]) are still in that satelloon's higher, near-polar orbit. Pageos was first thought to have been fragmented by a collision with space debris, but no correlate-able impactor could be found, and it is now thought that its aluminized mylar skin was weakened by such long exposure to the unfiltered solar ultraviolet rays.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

I figured it was something like that. This morning's Spot the Station email suggests that during tonight's pass (8:35 PM PDT) it'll disappear while being at 63 degrees above the horizon after going almost overhead (81 degrees).

__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE

The British space scientist Dr. Desmond King-Hele, who wrote the book "Observing Earth Satellites" (see: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sea...lites&kn=&isbn= [it's a great amateur astronomy-type book for satellite watchers]), emphasized the effects of--and the benefits of knowing the elevation angle of--the Earth's shadow, and:

He mentioned that British satellite observers, at their latitude, have to choose their observing times carefully because the Earth's shadow is not infrequently at inconvenient elevations during the warm months (as your Spot the Station e-mail showed). Dr. King-Hele (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_King-Hele ) is a physicist who co-designed the proposed Black Prince satellite launch vehicle (a Blue Streak missile with a Black Knight second stage; a link to a drawing of it is in the Wikipedia article). Plus:

He was also a professional satellite optical tracker and observer, and he was an orbit analyst at the RAE (Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough), which was one of the main sources of information that the TRW Space Log used. The RAE satellite folks also--like the informal Kettering Group (see: http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/trackind...art/oldcyts.htm ) led by Geoffrey Perry, an English grammar school physics teacher--listened to satellites' transmissions and decoded their telemetry (in co-operation with a loose network of European amateur radio operators), which also provided a lot of mission information and orbital data that the RAE compiled.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR