"Sputnik 1" ("Спутник-1") Satellite
EXTREMELY RARE PIECE OF SOVIET SPACE MEMORY! NOT PRODUCED ANYMORE!
One of the rarest electro samovars in the world, which is dedicated to Soviet space program, lunching the first artificial Earth satellite "Sputnik 1" in 1957. Designed to heat 2.5 litres of water. The creator of this unique Samovar was Constantin Sobakin. It was made in the Soviet Suksun city in 1978, as written on the samovar itself. Samovar has been produced for a short period of time. Not produced anymore! It is new and never used samovar since 1978. Excellent vintage condition!
Great find for collectors!
P.S. You can find the same samovar at "The Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age" exhibition at the Science Museum in London (see the last photo).
About "Sputnik 1" Satellite
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. It was a 58 cm (23 in) diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennae to broadcast radio pulses. It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable. This surprise success precipitated the American <="Sputnik crisis" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments.
Sputnik itself provided scientists with valuable information, even though it was not equipped with scientific instruments. The density of the upper atmosphere could be deduced from its <" title="Aerodynamic drag" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">drag on the orbit, and the propagation of its radio signals gave information about the ionosphere.
Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No.1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR (now at the Baikonur Cosmodrome). The satellite travelled at about 29,000 kilometres per hour (18,000 mph; 8,100 m/s), taking 96.2 minutes to complete each orbit. It transmitted on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz which were monitored by amateur radio operators throughout the world. The signals continued for 21 days until the transmitter batteries ran out on 26 October 1957. Sputnik 1 burned up on 4 January 1958, as it fell from orbit upon reentering Earth's atmosphere, after travelling about 70 million km (43.5 million miles) and spending three months in orbit.
4. Yuri Gagarin: first man in space
On April 12th, 1961, the now famous spacecraft which carried the first man in space, the Vostok 1,
was carried in orbit on top of an adapted intercontinental ballistic
missile, the Semyorka. On board, former Air Force pilot Yuri Gagarin,
choosen for the mission from a group of 20 other Russians, mainly for
his charisma and working class background. Vostok 1 departed from Baikonur Cosmodrome,
currently Kazakhstan, and entered orbit on April 12th, 6.18 a.m., 11
minutes after launch. Gagarin mission lasted 108 minutes and, though his
landing was not without incidents, he returned on Earth unharmed. His
mission had tremendous impact on PR relationship as he became a cultural
ambassador, but by 1962 he had returned to Russian Air Force attaining
the rank of Colonel. He died six years later, in 1968, during the crash
of a MiG-15UTI jet je was piloting for a routine test. His name is still
celebrated, both in Russia and in the former Soviet countries: every
April 12th is Cosmonautics Day, and celebrations include a Yuri’s Night with film screenings and parties.
5. Valentina Tereshkova: first woman in space
22 year old Valentina Tereshova was selected after a long round of research and recruitment, began in 1962 by the Soviet Air Force
in order to conquer another achievement ahead of the Americans and
create a heroine to represent the virtues of the communist system,
including gender equality. Tereshova was good-looking, a model worker
and from a proletarian background, therefore was chosen in spite of
other candidates having slightly better scores, such as Valentina Ponomareva, a pilot and a graduate of the Moscow Aviation Institute. Alongside them, the other reserve was Irina Solovyova, member of the Soviet national parachuting team. By president Sergei Korolev‘s
own admission, Tereshova was picked for her outstanding personality and
ability to influence a crowd, arousing sympathy. After her succesful
journey in Vostok 6, she became a cultural ambassador, travelling in Western Europe and US, while the Female Cosmonaut Detachment was disbanded without any further mission.
6. Alexei Leonov: first man to walk in space
On March 18th, 1965, Alexei Leonov was the very first man to step
outside his spacecraft to take a walk in the void of space. Leonov
mission came after a row of unsuccessful missions, such as the unmanned Voskhod Cosmos 57 destroyed
by its own self-destruct anti-American mechanism, and wasn’t without
perils: his spacesuit inflated while in space, human manouvering
mistakes were made, the descent module’s hatch didn’t seal properly,
automatic guidance system failed. Still, he and his crewmate Pavel
Belyayev returned safely on Earth after a manual descent the craft
wasn’t designed to sustain. They landed in Kazakhstan’s Siberia, about
180 km from Perm, where they would have ironically been eaten by bears.
Still, they were saved in time by a rescue team on skiis. Voskhod 2 beated US Project Gemini spacewalk by three months. In 1975, US and USSR launched the first joint flight, the Soyuz-Apollo mission, and Alexei Leonov was the commander of the Russian crew. Leonov is currently 81 years old.
7. Game Over: Apollo 11 lands on the moon
With US succesful mission on the Moon, in 1969, the race was over. By
the end of the 1970s space travel had lost its novelty and was no longer
pushed forward by cold war. Slowly, Russia’s space program declined, as
the Country faced other threats.