LIVE WEBCAST
Lecture by Commander Scott Carpenter will be telecasted live through this web site.
Visit this web site 3:15 p.m. on October 5, 2007
TEMPLE TIMES
Astronaut Scott Carpenter highlights Temple observance of Sputnik’s 50th anniversary
Fifty years after the former Soviet Union intensified the Cold War by firing the first shot in the “space race” with the launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, Temple University’s colleges of Science and Technology and Liberal Arts will co-host a half-day conference exploring the launch’s impact on history, culture, science and technology.
The conference, which will feature panel discussions and lectures — including one by former Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter, will be held Friday, Oct. 5, on Temple’s Main Campus. Full Article
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
Secrets of space race's start revealed
By Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press
MOSCOW - When Sputnik took off 50 years ago, the world gazed at the heavens in awe and apprehension, watching what seemed like the unveiling of a sustained Soviet effort to conquer space and score a stunning Cold War triumph.
But 50 years later, it emerges that the momentous launch was far from being part of a well-planned strategy to demonstrate communist superiority over the West.
Instead, the first artificial satellite in space was a spur-of-the-moment gamble driven by the dream of one scientist, whose team scrounged a rocket, slapped together a satellite, and persuaded a dubious Kremlin to open the space age.
And that winking light that crowds around the globe gathered to watch in the night sky? Not Sputnik at all, as it turns out, but just the second stage of its booster rocket, according to Boris Chertok, 95, one of the founders of the Soviet space program. Full Article
NEW YORK TIMES
The Space Age - SPECIAL SPUTNIK ISSUE
CNN
Sputnik -- one man's dream
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I-Reporters' dreams launched along with Sputnik 50 years ago
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THE SCHOOL OF RUSSIAN & ASIAN STUDIES
NASA in Russia: Science Degrees and Careers in Russia
Interview with Mark Bowman by Josh Wilson
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