Sputniks over Britain

Shortly after midnight on October 5 at precisely 0015 GMT, the British Broadcasting Corporation listening station at Tatsfield, just south of London, recorded the now famous “beep‐beep” of Sputnik I on its very first transit. News of this detection and the official Russian announcement of the satellite launching were flashed almost simultaneously to a startled world. Thus began two months of feverish but magnificent improvisation and observation which saw the British in the forefront of the Western scientists engaged in tracking the Russian satellites.

This article is only available in PDF format