[FPSPACE] FW: [HASTRO-L] Sputnik Orbital Elements

[Allen Thomson]

  > With the 50th anniversary of 
>Sputnik's launch coming up, some of us have been trying to track down or 
>recreate the orbital elements of the tiny satellite. 
   
  Here is a re-creation from a few years ago. I seem to remember that a more ambitious project to deduce the TLEs was undertaken in connection with the 50th anniversary, but the details escape me at the moment.
   
  http://mailgate.dada.net/sci/sci.astro.satellites.visual-observe/msg02025.html
   
  Wherein it says,
   
  "1 00001U 57001A   57277.80437501  .00520000  00000-0  16777-2 0    11
2 00001  65.1000 340.3821 0520478  58.0000 306.9536 14.96977024    06

"Note that these elements are of the rocket body, not the payload. Most
people who remember seeing Sputnik, saw the rocket not, the payload."