alternatehistory.com



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 travelled at about 29,000 kilometres per hour (18,000 mph; 8,100 m/s), taking 96.2 minutes to complete each orbit. It transmitted on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz,[8] which were monitored by amateur radio operators throughout the world.[9] The signals continued for 21 days until the transmitter batteries ran out on 26 October 1957.[4] Sputnik burned up on 4 January 1958 while reentering Earth's atmosphere, after travelling about 70 million km (43 million mi) and spending three months in orbit.[

IIRC, the launch of Sputnik 1 took US military intelligence by complete surprise.
So what if the USAF takes the initial signs of the launch as some sort of first strike and tries to shoot it down?
My guess is that the Kazakh SSR launch site is too deep into the USSR for such a thing to occur, but I'm unsure.
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