Back in 1958, the USSR suffered what seems to have been its first failure to launch an earth satellite. The backup satellite was later orbited successfully as Sputnik 3. TRW Space Log lists the date of this launch failure as Feb 3, 1958, whereas most other Internet websites list the date as April 27, 1958 (I know of one website that gives the Feb 3 date). I've gone with the April 27 date but wonder why there would be two dates for this launch. Also, just how and when did this failure become public knowledge? The earliest Space Log listing this launch is the 1987 issue. (Finding out about USSR satellite launch failures used to be like pulling teeth.) And one more question: What modifications to the SL-1 launch vehicle occurred between Sputnik 2 and the launch failure? I note the vehicles are listed with different model numbers but so far I haven't been able to find out the details online. Both Sputnik 1 and 2 were accompanied in orbit by a single piece of hardware (in addition to the separate rocket body, in the case of Sputnik 1), while Sputnik 3 had three pieces of hardware in addition to the rocket body. These pieces of hardware were not catalogued by COSPAR and have no numbers assigned. Early issues of Space Log describe these pieces as fairings/protective pieces. In all three Sputnik launches the rocket body was the core R-7 first stage sans boosters, not a true upper stage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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