Posts: 968
From: Texas * Earth
Registered: Apr 2011

posted 03-02-2015 01:49 PM            

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As one who doesn't much believe in coincidences, I am convinced that the launch of Sputnik on Friday, Oct. 4, 1957 was not some random date.

The 8th Annual International Astronautical Congress was set to begin Saturday Oct. 5 in Barcelona, Spain.

As reported in the above noted German space and rocket society publication; at the end of the conference it was decided that the next meeting would be in Amsterdam as previously planned. The subsequent convention in 1959 would now be held in Moscow where the Soviets would tell us all about their rocket development program.

Of course that never happened and it wasn't until 1973 that the Astronautical Congress met in the Soviet Union.

Posts: 1310
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007

posted 03-02-2015 02:19 PM               

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Pending any additional delays, it does appear that it was timed to coincide with that IAF convention in Spain. The launch itself actually occurred on the 5th, Tyuratam (Baikonur) local time, but the 'offical' date and time was on the 4th at 22:28:34 Moscow Time.

The frequencies for the satellite's radio transmissions were given out on the 1st of October, with a date for launch decided on the 2nd. With the Soviets giving out signs long before Sputnik was launched, it does not seem as shocking now as it was back then.