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of launch also had to be measured, since the planet is not a perfect sphere. The inclination of the equatorial plane, the angle between the equator and the azimuth, then needed to be calibrated to determine fuel load, which in turn affected the mass-to-thrust ratio critical to calculating the “escape velocity” that would propel PS-1 beyond the pull of gravity. This in turn determined the apogee and perigee—that is, the peaks and troughs of the satellite’s wavelike orbit—along with the duration of each revolution. These variables were all mercilessly interrelated, and the smallest mistake could result in the satellite crashing back to earth or escaping into deep space, never to be seen again. Even if PS-1 were catapulted to its proper celestial position, a tiny error in trajectory computations could result in a widely errant elliptical orbit that would either bypass the United States or appear over the North American continent at the wrong times. That, for Korolev, would spell disaster, because he wanted his little satellite seen in the night sky over enemy territory. It was why he had ordered PS-1 made entirely of a highly reflective aluminum material, polished to a mirrorlike sheen, and why he had gone to such lengths to insist on a spherical shape. Korolev had shot down the cone, the cylinder, the square, and every design his frustrated satellite makers had proposed. “Why, Sergei Pavlovich?” one of them finally asked, exasperated. “Because it’s not round,” he had replied mysteriously.

There was no real mystery, however. Spinning spherical objects simply caught the light better, and PS-1 would act like a bright mirror for the sun’s rays as it circled the earth, making it much more visible in the dark. Without this form of optical amplification, PS-1, at twenty-two inches in diameter, was too small to be seen from distances of up to 500 miles away. And seeing, as the old saying went, was believing.

The same psychological reasoning applied to Korolev’s decision to sacrifice scientific instrumentation in favor of audio capability. Virtually all of PS-l’s 184-pound mass was consumed by two transmitters and their three batteries. The silver-zinc chargers alone weighed 122 pounds, providing power for only a few weeks of operation. As a redundancy, they operated two identical one-watt transmitters that broadcast alternatively on different frequencies using separate pairs of ten- and eight-foot antennae. This way if one system failed, a signal would still reach earth. Hearing was also believing.

Sights and sounds from space would give even a crude little craft like PS-1 enormous propaganda and political value, Korolev argued. No one would be able to deny its existence, and even the “simple satellite” would be a Soviet triumph over the Americans, orbiting proof of the supremacy of Communist countries. “The Soviet Union must be first,” he said adamantly. Korolev’s colleagues, though, were far from convinced. “The Army needs just one thing,” Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin shot back, “a rocket that will work.” The standoff continued, with Korolev demanding that the commission accept his proposal.

Glushko and the military men led the revolt—the Red Army representatives because it was a distraction from solving the nose cone problem, Glushko perhaps as a way of getting even with his rival. Whichever the case, all the old animosity had bubbled to the surface: the fights, “using the dirtiest language and crudest phrases,” the tirades that had left so many wounded feelings. “Mindless malice,” Korolev complained to Nina.

Smarting from the rejection, Korolev stormed out of the conference room, no doubt leaving his own habitual trail of expletives that Soviet historians opted not to record for posterity. He was back two weeks later, early in the second week of September, once again insisting that his Simple Satellite Number One be given the green light. This time, however, his position had improved, and he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. The R-7 had completed another nearly flawless test flight on September 7, using up the last of the