Today is the 42nd anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1. Happy anniversary folks! Pierre Neirinck produced these elements, using observations by himself, Tony Beresford, David Brierley, Russell Eberst, Alberto Rango and Peter Wakelin, from 22 Sep to 04 Oct UTC. Lacrosse 3 18.0 4.5 0.0 3.6 v 1 25017U 97064 A 99277.26339170 .00000751 00000-0 13362-3 0 1528 2 25017 56.9949 323.8132 0012257 86.0672 274.0730 14.66740208 08 USA 144 15.0 4.0 0.0 3.4 v 1 25744U 99028 A 99277.30971020 -.00000025 00000-0 -38667-2 0 358 2 25744 63.4423 295.1035 0233353 291.6887 65.8426 9.69757386 02 Russell Eberst's precise magnitude estimates confirm USA 144's standard magnitude of 3.4, which was based on a single early observation in June. Russell's 16 magnitude-points between 23 Aug and 2 Oct UTC were scattered within +/- 0.5 mag of prediction. On average, the observed points were about 0.056 mag fainter than predicted. Ted Molczan