Sputnik 1 (/ˈspʌtnɪk, ˈspʊtnɪk/, ‹See Tfd›Russian: Спутник-1, Satellite 1) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for three weeks before its three silver-zinc batteries became depleted. Aerodynamic drag caused it to fall back into the atmosphere on 4 January 1958. The world’s first observation was made at the school observatory in Rodewisch (Saxony).
It was a polished metal sphere 58 cm (23 in) in diameter with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. Its radio signal was easily detectable by amateur radio operators, and the 65° orbital inclination made its flight path cover virtually the entire inhabited Earth.
The satellite’s success was unanticipated by the United States. This precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, part of the Cold War. The launch was the beginning of a new era of political, military, technological, and scientific developments. The word sputnik is Russian for satellite when interpreted in an astronomical context; its other meanings are spouse or traveling companion.
Tracking and studying Sputnik 1 from Earth provided scientists with valuable information. The density of the upper atmosphere could be deduced from its drag on the orbit, and the propagation of its radio signals gave data about the ionosphere.
Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No.1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR (now known as the Baikonur Cosmodrome). The satellite traveled at a peak speed of about 8 km/s (18,000 mph), taking 96.20 minutes to complete each orbit. It transmitted on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz, which were monitored by radio operators throughout the world. The signals continued for 22 days until the transmitter batteries depleted on 26 October 1957. On 4 January 1958, after three months in orbit, Sputnik 1 burned up while reentering Earth’s atmosphere, having completed 1,440 orbits of the Earth, and travelling a distance of approximately 70,000,000 km (43,000,000 mi).
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I think a big part of this perception is because much of the narrative is about Feanor and the Noldorin. Feanor is the king of hot messes (his name means like “flaming soul” or something) and the Noldor as a whole are hot-headed, quick to battle, and very quick to make rash decisions about picking fights with the god of evil. They weren’t supposed to go back to Middle Earth in pursuit of Morgoth in the first place and much of the Silmarillion is various Noldorin kings making a complete mess of things and getting tons of people killed. And then in LotR, sauron is kind of not really present so it’s easy to say “well why is he so bad?” If you don’t look at it materially: he’s the leader of a powerful nation trying to imperialize surrounding weaker nations and using a weapon of mass destruction to do it. Leaving aside the critiques of orcs, which more people are coming to realize that Tolkien himself agreed with!, Mordor is a powerful industrialized nation engaged in an expansionist war with its neighbors, lead by a wizard who has been a direct participant in unimaginable atrocities since the beggining of history.
Sauron doesn’t have any complex villain origin story. He doesn’t have a tragic past. He just liked what Melkor was selling and joined the cause of evil, wrecking things and hurting people because he liked the proximity to power and he liked wielding power. That’s real evil; someone who has power and weilds it for personal gain and pleasure against people who don’t have power.
And to make it more fucked up - many of the Elves knew Sauron personally and were good friends with him for centuries when he was running the Annatar grift. Elrond and Galadriel know exactly who Sauron is and what he’s capable of. They saw him working up close, they watched him corrupt, upend, and destroy their families, friends, and neighbors, all as part of his plot to make a series of super-weapons he could use to assert complete geopolitical hegemony over the region. They only barely and at enormous cost managed to prevent him from completing his wmd program, and even after he was defeated he kept messing things up. Like for Galadriel, Celeborn, Elrond, and other surviving elves of the Second Age the battle is intensely personal and the stakes are life and death.
Also, I’ve decided that Tom Bombadil is the spirit of Arda as it would be unmarred by Melkor’s spite. No one and nothing has power over him because he is the original spirit of the world before Melkor and Sauron dispersed their malice in to Arda. He represents the innocent joy and beauty that the Vala wanted to create as a playground for the Children of Illuvatar. A single, small, joyful treasure to remind everyone what was, is, possible.
Well fuck, what a beautiful framing. Gonna dig up and re-read these during the rainy winter. I had really fallen out of love with these books, just due to the fandom surrounding them and the opinions of the big LoTR fans around me.