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| Sputnik 2 - Credit: © Mark Wade. 24,983 bytes. 244 x 494 pixels. |
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Other Designations: PS-2. Class: Biology. Nation: USSR. Manufacturer: OKB-1. After the surprise public impact of Sputnik 1, the satellite and launch teams were called back from vacation and in one month assembled Sputnik 2 (using equipment already developed for dog sounding rocket flights). The spacecraft, which remained attached to the upper stage, carried the dog Laika. No recovery was possible, and the dog perished in orbit due to higher-than-expected tempreatures.
SpecificationTotal Mass: 508 kg.
Sputnik 2 Chronology
03 November 1957
Sputnik 2 Launch Site: Baikonur . Launch Vehicle: R-7 8K71. Mass: 508 kg. Perigee: 212 km. Apogee: 1,660 km. Inclination: 65.3 deg. Carried dog Laika. Study of the physical processes and conditions of life in outer space. After the surprise public impact of Sputnik 1, the satellite and launch teams were called back from vacation and in one month assembled the satellite (using equipment already developed for dog sounding rocket flights).
Bibliography:- 2 - McDowell, Jonathan, The United Nations Registry of Space Objects, Harvard University, 1997. HTML when accessed: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/un/un.html
- 21 - Semenov, Yuri P Editor, Raketno-kosmicheskaya korporatsiya 'Energia' imeni S P Koroleva, Moscow, Russia, 1996.
- 177 - Varfolomyev, Timothy, Spaceflight, "Soviet Rocketry that Conquered Space - 8K71 launches", 1996, Volume 38, page 31.
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Last update 12 March 2001.
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© Mark Wade, 2001 .