posted April 07, 2005 01:15 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Chris Dubbs:
Some sources claim that Sputnik 2 had a slow-scan TV camera. Others claim it did not, and that TV images from Sputnik 5 are commonly misidentified as being of Laika. I know that misidentification problem is true. However. . .Has anyone ever seen such a photo or can anyone give me a reputable source of information on what type of TV equipment may have been onboard? Etc.

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I don't know about Laika, but my understanding is that the dog Strelka was monitored with a video camera while in orbit.

Check out http://www.westminsterastro.org/library/audio_visual_media.htm . The caption of the image reads:

Television image of Russian dog Strelka (Little Arrow) beamed to earth from 200 miles up in space from the 1961 "Popular Mechanics Science Annual" book. Strelka was launched into space on August 20, 1960 on a 17 orbit 24 hour flight along with a companion dog named Belka (squirrel) and an assortment of mice, flies, plants, and fungi.

According to the date this would have been Sputnik 5.

By the way, I have the same copy of the book from which this image was scanned.

On Edit:

According to http://www.answers.com/topic/sputnik-5 the callsign for Sputnik 5 was "Korabl Sputnik 2." Perhaps this has contributed to the confusion.

posted April 07, 2005 04:47 PM               

But here are two sources regarding TV on Sputnik 2. Siddiqi, in Challenge to Apollo, p. 172, refers to a "slow scan television system named Seliger" that scanned at 200 lines per frame.

And this comes from Sven Grahn's web site:
In "Roads to Space" Yuri A. Mozzhorin (worked on R-7 TT&C systems at NII MO) explains (p.413) that "The second satellite, carrying the dog Laika, was equipped with a telemetry transmitter, thereby allowing the Tral-D equipment to be activated (Tral-D TM system was developed for Object-D, but not used on Sputnik 1, SG:s comment), The satellite also featured a slow-scan TV camera (100 lines per frame, 10 frames per second), which relayed images to the ground on the Tral frequency".

posted April 09, 2005 01:50 PM            

However,over the subsequent decades - as more information was gleaned about the early Soviet space programmes, some of the subsequent flights were named Korabl-Sputnik - those based around the Vostok spaceship design. The mission carrying the dogs Strelka and Belka was later called Korabl-Sputnik 2 and launched on 19 August 1960 and was the first to carry a television camera.

So,when some reports say that 'sputnik-2' had a TV camera they are probably referring to the Korabl-Sputnik-2 of 1960 and NOT to the Sputnik-2 Laika flight in 1957. There was no TV on Sputnik-2 Laika flight