Sputnik 5
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mission Statistics | ||
| Mission Name: | Sputnik 5 | |
| Call Sign: | Korabl Sputnik 2 | |
| Number of Crew Members: | 2 dogs 40 mice |
|
| Launch: | August 19, 1960 08:44:06 UTC Baikonur LC1 |
|
| Landing: | August 20, 1960 06:00:00 UTC approx |
|
| Duration: | 1 day | |
| Number of Orbits: | ~16 | |
| Korabl Sputnik 2 | ||
Sputnik 5 was the first spaceflight to send animals into orbit and return them safely back to Earth. Launched on August 19, 1960, it paved the way for the first human orbital flight less than eight months later with Vostok 1. Sputnik 5 was a USSR artificial Earth satellite from the Sputnik space program. It was in fact the second test flight of the Vostok spacecraft, and therefore it is sometimes called Korabl-Sputnik 2 ("korabl" is Russian for "ship").
Contents |
[edit] Crew
- 2 dogs - Belka ("Squirrel") and Strelka ("Little Arrow" or "Pointer")
- 40 mice
- 2 rats
- A variety of plants
[edit] Mission parameters
- Mass: 4,600 kg
- Perigee: 287 km
- Apogee: 324 km
- Inclination: 64.95°
- Period: 90.72 minutes
- NSSDC ID: 1960-011A
[edit] Mission highlights
A radio station in Bonn, Germany, was among the first to pick up the signal. On the 3rd orbit, a Swedish radio station confirmed this.
The spacecraft carried two dogs, Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of plants on-board. The spacecraft returned to earth the next day and all animals were recovered safely. The spacecraft also carried a television camera which took images of the dogs.
Shortly after the landing, one of Strelka's puppies was sent to Jacqueline Kennedy as a present from the Soviet Union.
[edit] Note
The launch time is disputed: Sergei Voevodin gave the time as 08:38:24 UTC while it was officially said to be 08:44:06
[edit] See also
|
|||||||||||||
