Noticing that the 50th anniversary of the launching of Sputnik was coming up, I had to ask myself:

Did I see Sputnik back in 1998?  Specifically, hanging off the ceiling in a corner of Krasnoyarsk State University?  My brother, who lived there at the time and who my parents and I were visiting, pointed it out.  “Sputnik.”  So it was.  Sputnik.

Showing the photograph of a Sputnik to a few of my peers in the following months, I would point to it and say “… and that’s Sputnik.”  A strange location for Sputnik to be, and seemingly a little random.  There was a disconnect, and the response would tend to be a little confused.   The unasked question:  Doesn’t Sputnik deserve better?

Probably.   But that wasn’t the Sputnik, which apparently was incinerated on re-entry.  I probably should have known that.  What I saw was some other Sputnik.  But maybe it is best to suggest that if you’ve seen one Sputnik, you’ve seen them all.

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