The Soviet Plan

The Soviets had been developing power­ful rocket motors for some time, and they originally had hoped to launch a large satellite packed with scientific instruments. They scaled down their plan when they learned how small Vanguard was (the U. S. satellite weighed only 3.5 pounds, or 1.5 kilograms).

To ensure success, the Soviets opted to start by launching Sputnik 1, an “artificial moon” simpler and smaller than their science satellite, but still much bigger and heavier than its U. S. rival. Soviet space scientists were confi­
dent of putting this small satellite into orbit, even if its scientific value would be limited.

Sputnik 1 was designed and built in conditions of great secrecy by a team of Soviet scientists and engineers led by Sergey Korolev (1907-1966), chief designer of the Soviet space bureau. Korolev had helped design the long – range ballistic missiles from which the R-7 satellite launcher rocket was devel­oped. After successful R-7 test flights in the summer of 1957, a modified version of the R-7 was prepared to launch Sputnik 1 .