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I have a Russian 7" disc of Yuri Gagarin's flight. I don't doubt that there was a similar record for the sound of Sputnik and, perhaps one of Laika barking from way above. Perhaps Mike Biel has them in his Russian collection. Steve Smolian -----Original Message----- From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Lewis Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2012 11:01 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [ARSCLIST] Sputnik in Orbit "Teams of visual observers at 150 stations in the United States and other countries were alerted during the night to watch for the Soviet sphere at dawn and during the evening twilight. They had been organized in Project Moonwatch <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Moonwatch> to sight the satellite through binoculars or telescopes as it passed overhead.[56]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1#cite_note-CR-55>The USSR asked radio amateurs and commercial stations to record the sound of the satellite on magnetic tape<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_tape> .[56] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1#cite_note-CR-55> News reports at the time pointed out that "anyone possessing a short wave receiver can hear the new Russian earth satellite as it hurtles over his area of the globe". Directions, provided by the American Radio Relay League<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Radio_Relay_League>were to "Tune in 20 megacycles sharply, by the time signals, given on that frequency. Then tune to slightly higher frequencies. The 'beep, beep' sound of the satellite can be heard each time it rounds the globe,"[57]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1#cite_note-56>The first recording of *Sputnik 1*'s signal was made by RCA <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA>engineers near Riverhead, Long Island. They then drove the tape recording into Manhattan for broadcast to the public over NBC<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC>radio. However, as *Sputnik* rose higher over the East Coast, its signal was picked up by ham station W2AEE, the ham radio station of Columbia University<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_University>. Students working in the university's FM station, WKCR<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKCR>, made a tape of this, and were the first to rebroadcast the *Sputnik 1*signal to the American public (or such of it as could receive the FM station). The next morning two FBI <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI>agents took the tape from the station. It has never been returned." -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1 >>>> I wonder what happened to WKCR's tape of Sputnik, and of course why the FBI would want to seize it, apart from general Cold War paranoia. Also note near the close of the article the presence of a fake Sputnik I recording, courtesy of NASA. Why would we need to circulate something like this? David N. "Uncle Dave" Lewis Lebanon, OH