Sputnik in Texas?

Richard Garriott, a man living in Austin Texas, has claims to a $15,000 Sputnik. Yes, the real Sputnik was burnt up after re-entering the Earth's atmosphere three mouth after launching on October 4,1957. But Garriott has possession to one of the six spares that were made by the Russians. Garriot treats the space memorabilia as part of the family. Growing up next to the NASA Space Center , Richard Garriott was constantly surrounded by space matters. His father, Owen K. Garriott, is a retired astronaut who spent 60 days aboard Skylab in 1973 and flew on the space shuttle in 1983. His neighbors were also astronauts and scientist, and his father continually brought home inventions NASA was experimenting with. With all of his scientific knowledge behind him, he was well in his career while entering University of Texas, and soon there after began a career into computer gaming. Becoming very successful, he quickly became very wealthy. With his success he began to take up a hobby of traveling and collecting thing relevant to his career and interests. He even built a hilltop home outside of Austin for his collection which contains an observatory, secret passageways and a dungeon. Mr. Garriott has also bought a $30 million seat on a Soyuz flight to the International Space Station scheduled for next October, following in his father footsteps.

On October 4,1957, history changed when the Russians launched the first satellite into space. Sputnik was the satellite's name and its shape is often compared to a beach ball. Its was 22.8 inches in diameter and weighed 189.3 pounds. Launching the satellite also marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race. In 1952 the International Council of Scientific Unions decided to establish July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958, as the International Geophysical Year( IGY) because the scientists knew that the cycles of solar activity would be at a high point. This would allow satellites the capability to easily map out Earth's surface. Sputnik caught the Americans off guard, for they thought if the Russian's can successfully launch a satellite they could also launch nuclear bombs from Europe to the U.S. This caused Americans to reshape thier daily lives for they were very fearful. The invention of NASA on October 1, 1958 was also the result of the launching of Sputnik. A couple of months later On January 31, 1958 the U.S successfully launched Explorer I. This satellite discovered the magnetic radiation belts around the Earth, named after principal investigator James Van Allen.