Sputnik Launch 45th Anniversary
Commemorative T-Shirt
Space History
On October 4, 1957, at 10:28:04 pm, Moscow time, Sergei Korolev and the OKB-1 (the Russian Special Design Bureau 1) took humanity into the Space Age with the launch of Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. Many observers in the West only thought of the military meaning and consequences of the event. In truth, though, its origins were actually in a peaceful, scientific endeavor - the International Geophysical Year (IGY). The IGY was coordinated to obtain data on Earth's upper atmosphere and its interaction with the Sun during the peak of the sunspot cycle that occurred between July 1957 and December 1958. Three days after the Americans announced they would launch a satellite during the IGY, the Soviets made a similar prediction on August 1, 1955. Just over two years and two months later, the Russians realized their forecast, ahead of their US competitors, surprising much of the world.| Enter your email address here to sign up for our Space History newsletter: |
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Commemorative T-Shirt
We have created a T-shirt to commemorate that historic event and its forty-fifth anniversary which occurred on October 4, 2002. The front of the shirt includes a photo of Sputnik I; the text "Sputnik + 45" honoring both the original satellite and the 45 years of space history that have since transpired; and the time of the launch plus exactly forty-five years, October 4, 2002, 10:28:04 pm, Moscow time. The back of the shirt features the phrase "We need space to grow" popularized by the WinVN development team, a group of NASA engineers and their collaborators who wrote a freely distributed Usenet newsreader program. The combination of the Russian satellite and American phrase further reflects the spirit of international cooperation that originally provided the impetus leading to Sputnik's launch in 1957.Our T-shirt design is illustrated below.
For further reading about Sputnik I, feel free to visit these sites:
- From Vision to Reality Part 2 of a
Series on A Brief History of the Satellite Communications
Industry
by Virgil S. Labrador and Peter I. Galace - Sputnik: The First Man Made Earth
Satellite
by Andrew J. LePage
Click on a thumbnail image for more detail.
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As shown above, we are offering this T-shirt in either black or white, with contrasting graphics. We are currently using PayPal's shopping cart system to accept orders for this T-shirt. Please use the buttons below to add the size and color shirt or shirts you wish to order to your basket, which will be displayed in a new browser window. (Each time you click one of the buttons, it adds one shirt to the basket. You can change the quantities directly in the basket view window.) Once you have added everything you want to the basket, press the < View cart > button to go to the checkout page and place the order. (Shipping charges are explained below.)
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US$ 19.95 |
US$ 19.95 |
US$ 20.95 |
The price of each shirt purchased contributes US$ 5.00 toward the space business operations of The L5 Development Group.
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FYI:
There will be no sales tax assessed on your order: Massachusetts does not collect sales tax on clothing purchases. Shipping charges are based on the total cost of goods you are ordering, per the table at right. (We have elected to add this information here, since PayPal doesn't tell you these things until you get to the checkout page.) |
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