I Love A Parade!  And so did everyone else who turned out for the 17th Annual Mishicot Riverfest today.  Mishicot is a small community just a few miles from Manitowoc - and Miss Space Debris graced the parade with her cosmic presence, waving to the adoring masses from the back of a convertible, the use of which was generously donated for the event by First Chrysler of Manitowoc.

Happy Father’s Day

As with most of mankind’s great achievements, many people played a role in Sputnik’s success, but Sergei Korolev has often been referred to as the “Father” of the Sputnik project.    

Sergei Korolev was a licensed pilot and an aircraft designer who excelled in the skills of design integration, organization and strategic planning.  He was the man behind the scenes responsible for much of the success of the Soviet space program. 

During Stalin's 1938 Great Purge, he was accused of plotting against the government and imprisoned in a Siberian gulag – a labor camp prison from which 30 percent of those imprisoned did not survive.  Korolev survived, but lost all of his teeth, suffered a broken jaw, and developed a heart condition. Eventually, he was moved from the manual labor camp to a special slave-labor camp where scientists and engineers worked on projects assigned by the communist party leadership.  Later he was discharged by special government decree and his prior convictions were dismissed.

Along with other experts, he worked to reverse engineer the German V-2 rocket technology after WWII.  His contributions to that effort led to the successful R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile, the workhorse of the Soviet space program.  Korolev played an active role in the Soviet space effort from the early days, right up through the manned program.

In his memoirs, Nikita Khrushchev’s son recalled how his father learned about the successful launch of Sputnik I.  The Soviet leader was having a late reception at the Mariinsky Palace, in Kiev, Ukraine, when an aide called him to the telephone.  Khrushchev reappeared minutes later, "with his face shining":

I can tell you some very pleasant and important news, Khrushchev said, Korolev just called (at this point he acquired a secretive look). He's one of our missile designers. Remember not to mention his name - it's classified. So, Korolev has just reported that today, a little while ago, an artificial satellite of the Earth was launched." Father looked triumphantly around at those present. Everyone smiled politely,

without understanding just what had happened."

Sergei Korolev died January 14, 1966 at the age of 59, of complications from ailments contracted during his incarceration at the gulag prison camp. 

Before his death he referred to publicly only as "Chief Designer" and his actual identity was kept secret.  This was partly because in the Soviet system all successes were to be seen as a product of a committee, rather than the contributions of any one man, and partly because the Soviets feared an attempt on his life by the CIA if his identity were revealed.  American intelligence did not learn his identity until about a year before he died – and his identity was not revealed publicly in the Soviet Union until after his death.

And Then We Have "Father Sputnik"

While researching this post I found a reference to a rather intriguing painting by California surrealist artist William Stoneham, titled "Father Sputnik, 2010" - here is a link to a website featuring some of his work.  Check the Sputnik logo on the car's hood - and the Sputniks falling from the sky and piled up in the background. 

Happy Father's Day - and see you for Sputnikfest on September 7, 2013!

“Back In The Day” – Sputnik Was Scary Stuff. 

The Russians were Scary People – and they were “Up There” first.  Before us.  Not much good could come of that, from the viewpoint of the average American in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. 

This week I’ll share something with you from my own personal Sputnik memorabilia collection – and ask you to share with me any information you might have about this item or the author.  I picked this up off of eBay a couple years back.  I think I paid twenty-something for it.  Current offerings online for similar items indicate that you’d have to pay $45 to $50 to buy one of these today.

This little booklet measures about 5 3/16” by 4” and is 26 pages (numbered pages, there is a blank page at the end) long.  It was published in 1960 and written in the voice of a fictional 2^nd Grade Student named “Junior Bottumburger.”  The actual author, named in the book, is “F. Peter Seidel.”   

The person I bought this from said that from what they knew of the item, it was something that was handed out at “Christian revival meetings” during the Cold War by a traveling preacher who capitalized on the Sputnik scare with an “end of the world” message. 

The content of the booklet does appear to be consistent with that.  Little Junior Bottumberger tells a cautionary tale, with calculated misspellings intended to make  you believe it is written by a second grade student.  Either Junior or Mr. Seidel appear to be more than a little misogynistic when the story tells how after God made man “HIS 1ST MISTAK” he then made woman “HIS WURST MISTAK” because “SHE WUS NO GOOD.”    

The story progresses and explains how this flawed man and woman made “FIRE” and the

“WEEL” and later a long list of items including STEAM ENGINES, MARSHMELOWS, MUSTARD GAS, POEMS, RELIGIONS, ATOM BOMS, STINK BOMS, LIPSTIC, ELECTRIC CANOPNER … and “SPUTNIK.”  Then, “MOR SPUTNIKS” which lead to a race to see “HU CUD MAK THE MOST” and the “BIGIST” Sputnik.  Which ultimately led to the end of the world – and the last page of the book … “GOODBY.” 

I’ve done some limited internet research on the author’s name …

(okay, I googled it) and I find an architect/environmentalist named Peter Seidel, born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1926 – who sounds to be a pretty good candidate to have been the author.  According to Wikipedia (boy, I hate it when my students say that in a paper) he has also written works with titles like “Why We Ignore the Damage We Inflict on the Planet and Ourselves” and “Is it Inevitable that Evolution Will Self-Destruct?”

I see nothing indicating he may have been a revivalist preacher in the mode of “Brother Love’s Travelin’ Salvation Show” (pack up the babies & grab the old ladies) - but I wouldn’t think it entirely unbelievable if someone told me that his little tome ended up in the hands of someone who did use it that way. 

Anyone out there have any solid information on the history of this little booklet?  Any information would be greatly appreciated – please email me at spuntnikfest@gmail.com   

And be sure to join us at Sputnikfest 2013.  No scary stuff.  No preaching.  Just lots of wacky tacky fun.  See you on September 7 in Manitowoc.   Planet Terry

Star Trek “Into Darkness” was released this past week.  I did a search for Sputnik references in the

Star Trek universe and was surprised by how few I was able to find.  There is a passing reference in the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series to a “Korolev Class” starship designation.  Though the ship itself is never seen on-screen, a schematic appears on a display screen in one episode.  Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was the lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer during the Sputnik program. 

In the Star Trek: Enterprise television series, there is a flashback story about a Vulcan ship

observing the launch of Sputnik I.  In the episode Carbon Creek, this Vulcan ship subsequently crash lands in Pennsylvania and the three survivors are forced to blend in with the local populace in order to survive.  One neat bit of dialog has the Vulcans discussing what Earth culture of 1957 has to offer, including “alcohol, frozen fish sticks, and the constant threat of nuclear annihilation.”

The lead-in video for the Star Trek: Enterprise TV series theme song Faith of the Heart/Where My Heart Will Take Me plays over a video montage representing the history of exploration and space flight.  It includes images of the Wright Brothers, the Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis, and the Apollo space program, but any reference to the Russians being first in space is conspicuously absent.

One Star Trek fan has made an attempt to correct this oversight by splicing footage of Sputnik I and Yuri Gagarin into the Star Trek Enterprise theme video.  Check the video below.  About 30 seconds in you will see the “UPN” mark in the lower right corner of the screen disappear for about 10 seconds – which is about the only clue that this footage has been edited in.  The added video meshes seamlessly with the rest of the footage and one wonders why the creators of the original series would not have included something like this.   

Sputnikfest 2013 is less than 4 months away!  See you then.  Planet Terry

The One.  The Only.  Sputnikfest.

Space Debris Basics: The Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies (CORDS) defines Space Debris as “material that is in orbit as the result of space missions, but is no longer serving any function.” 

There are others who have claimed to have recovered Sputnik satellite debris.  In the Spring of 1962 a shepherd claimed to have recovered Sputnik debris in the Scottish Highlands.  What he found was later identified as part of a “Moby Dick” - a high altitude spy balloon launched by the US to photograph sensitive sites in the Soviet Union. 

Bob Morgan says parts of Sputnik I fell into his father’s backyard in Encino, California on the morning of December 8, 1957.  The thirteen pieces of metal and plastic (“okay, seriously … plastic?”) were said to be “glowing so bright that you couldn’t look at it with your naked eye” – so they

“grabbed some sunglasses* until this thing had cooled down” then gathered up the pieces and stored them in a box for almost 50 years.  The experts are skeptical that the artifacts are actually part of Sputnik I, but according to a 2007 article in the New York Times – there is a chance that they could be part of one of the booster rockets used to put Sputnik I into orbit.

According to CORDS, in the last 50 years more than 5,400 metric tons of orbital debris have survived re-entry.  One person has actually been struck by a piece!  Lottie Williams of Tulsa, Oklahoma was hit by what was confirmed to be a piece of a Delta rocket.  Fortunately it was a relatively small piece, not traveling very fast, and she was not harmed.  

CORDS has compiled a list of 68 verified occurrences of “Recovered Reentry Debris” from 1960 to

present day.  In May of 1963 a piece of debris “believed to be part of a Soviet spacecraft” was recovered 200 km North of Pretoria, South Africa.  (note the qualifier “believed to be” used in the list entry)   Similarly, in 1964 an “undetermined number of fragments … believed to be of Soviet origin” fell to earth in British Columbia, Canada. 

Most of the entries on the list that could be linked to Russian spacecraft are noted in terms of “believed to be of Soviet origin” – but are not confirmed as same.  But what is it about Wisconsin that it seems to be a magnet for this stuff?  Item #24 on the list is a titanium spherical pressure vessel identified as Soviet in origin found near Tomahawk, Wisconsin in October, 1966.

Only one entry on the list of 68 pieces of “recovered reentry debris” has been conclusively linked to a specific Soviet satellite:

5.

In September 1962 a cylindrical metal piece (diameter 0.15 m, mass 9.5 kg) fell on a street intersection in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

Identified as part of Soviet Sputnik IV, launched May 15, 1960

The One.  The Only.  Come celebrate with us on September 7.  Planet Terry

*The "sunglasses" image I used in this post is from the 1988 John Carpenter science fiction film "They Live."  The photo shows Roddy Piper wearing a pair of "special" sunglasses that are integral to the plot of the movie.  If you aren't familiar with the film - check it out.  It's a fun homage to the 1950's alien invasion genre - and worth watching, in my opinion, for the line supposedly ad-libbed by Roddy Piper (aka wrestling star "Rowdy Roddy Piper") - "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick a** ... and I'm all out of bubblegum."  Here is a link to the trailer.

In the last post I made note of Superman’s 75^th Anniversary.  You may have heard news reports this past week about the 75^th anniversary of another iconic character: Bugs Bunny.  The exact birthday of this “wascally wabbit” could be debated.  The anniversary most recently being celebrated marks 75 years since his first appearance as a rabbit being hunted by Porky Pig in “Porky’s Hare Hunt.”  Though he has some of the Bugs Bunny personality in that cartoon short (see image at right) he looks quite a bit different than the Bugs we know today.  Bug’s first recognizable appearance is in A Wild Hare in 1940 and he was first named on-screen as “Bugs Bunny” in Elmer’s Pet Rabbit in 1941. 

There is a Sputnik connection to the Bugs Bunny story, relating to a story featuring everyone’s favorite cartoon alien – Marvin the Martian.  Hareway to the Stars was released on March 29, 1958, only about 5 months after the Russians launched Sputnik I.  If you watch the video, check about 1:55 into it to see Bugs Bunny hit by an a recognizable cartoon representation of Sputnik I, complete with its distinctive “Beep-Beep-Beep” radio signal. 

This, and many other Bugs Bunny cartoon shorts are notable for the mid-century modern design elements incorporated into them, a topic explored on this interesting website.

There is a also a mid-century Sputnik connection to the Manitowoc story, where Sputnik 4 fell to earth in 1962.  Come visit Manitowoc, Wisconsin this September 7th and celebrate the anniversary of that event with us.  That’s it for this week.  Or – rather … “That’s All Folks.”  Planet Terry

Last week marked Superman’s 75^th birthday. 

(we should all look that good at 75 years old)  April 18, 1938 was the date Action Comics No. 1, the first appearance of Superman, was published.  Superman’s origin story has been told and retold – we probably all know at least the basics.  Sent off in a spaceship by his father, Jor-El, from his dying home planet of Krypton – he landed in Smallville, Kansas, where he was raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent. 

In 2003 DC comics published an alternate universe Superman story with a Sputnik/Cold War tie-in.  In the three-issue “Elseworlds” storyline titled “Red Son” Superman’s ship lands – not in Kansas – but in the Ukraine.  He is raised on a collective farm and instead of fighting for “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” – he champions the common worker and fights for “Stalin, Socialism and the Warsaw Pact.”

In this timeline, Lex Luthor is working for the United States government and in a plot to obtain Superman’s DNA he engineers the premature re-entry from orbit of Sputnik 2. 

The Russian satellite plummets toward Metropolis and, as Lex Luthor has planned, Superman arrives to save the day – and in the process leaves a bit of his DNA on a fragment of the satellite which Lex is able to recover.  Using this DNA Lex creates an “anti-Superman” named “Bizarro” to do battle with Superman.  What happens next …  well, I’ll let you seek out the comics and read the story if you are interested. 

At any rate, never fear – Superman didn’t grow up in the Soviet Union; his ship did land near Ma and Pa Kent’s farm in Kansas right here in the good old U. S. of A. 

And a Russian satellite did crash into a street in Manitowoc, Wisconsin in 1962.  (We don’t think Lex Luthor had anything to do with it.)  Celebrate the anniversary of that event with us in Manitowoc this September 7.  Planet Terry