Sputnik 41 (russian: Спутник 41, french: Spoutnik 41), also known as Sputnik Jr 2 and Radio Sputnik 18 (RS-18), was a Franco-

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

amateur radio satellite An amateur radio satellite is an artificial satellite built and used by amateur radio operators. It forms part of the Amateur-satellite service. These satellites use amateur radio frequency allocations to facilitate communication between amat ...

which was launched in 1998 to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the

Aéro-Club de France The Aéro-Club de France () was founded as the Aéro-Club on 20 October 1898 as a society 'to encourage aerial locomotion' by Ernest Archdeacon, Léon Serpollet, Henri de la Valette, Jules Verne and his wife, André Michelin, Albert de Dion, ...

, and the forty-first anniversary of the launch of

Sputnik 1 Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for ...

, the world's first artificial satellite. A one-third scale model of Sputnik 1, Sputnik 41 was deployed from the

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

space station A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station ...

on 10 November 1998. Sputnik 41 was launched aboard

Progress M-40 Progress M-40 () was a Russian unmanned Progress cargo spacecraft, which was launched in October 1998 to resupply the Mir space station, carry the Sputnik 41 satellite and the unsuccessful Znamya 2.5 solar mirror. Launch Progress M-40 launche ...

at 04:14 UTC on 25 October 1998, along with supplies for Mir and the Znamya-2.5 reflector experiment. A

Soyuz-U The Soyuz-U launch vehicle was an improved version of the original Soyuz rocket. Soyuz-U was part of the R-7 family of rockets based on the R-7 Semyorka missile. Members of this rocket family were designed by the TsSKB design bureau and cons ...

carrier rocket placed the spacecraft into orbit, flying from Site 1/5 at the

Baikonur Cosmodrome ''Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy'' rus, Космодром Байконур''Kosmodrom Baykonur'' , image = Baikonur Cosmodrome Soyuz launch pad.jpg , caption = The Baikonur Cosmodrome's "Gagarin's Start" Soyuz ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

: the same launch pad used by Sputnik 1. Progress M-40 docked to Mir on 27 October, and the satellite was transferred to the space station. At about 19:30 UTC on 10 November, during an

extra-vehicular activity Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmental support. EVA in ...

, Sputnik 41 was deployed by cosmonauts

Gennady Padalka Gennady Ivanovich Padalka (russian: Гeннадий Иванович Падалка; born 21 June 1958 in Krasnodar, Soviet Union) is a Russian Air Force officer and a Roscosmos cosmonaut. Padalka currently holds the world record for the most ...

and

Sergei Avdeyev Sergei Vasilyevich Avdeyev (Сергей Васильевич Авдеев; born 1 January 1956) is a Russian engineer and cosmonaut. Avdeyev was born in Chapayevsk, Samara Oblast (formerly Kuybyshev Oblast), Russian SFSR. He graduated from Mos ...

. On 24 November, a fortnight after deployment, Sputnik 41 was in a

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never m ...

with a perigee of , an apogee of , an inclination of 51.6 degrees, and a period of 91.44 minutes. The satellite was given the

International Designator The International Designator, also known as COSPAR ID, is an international identifier assigned to artificial objects in space. It consists of the launch year, a three-digit incrementing launch number of that year and up to a three-letter code repr ...

1998-062C, and was catalogued by the

United States Space Command United States Space Command (USSPACECOM or SPACECOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Department of Defense, responsible for military operations in outer space, specifically all operations 100 kilometers (62 miles) and grea ...

as 25533. Having ceased operations on 11 December 1998 after its batteries expired, Sputnik 41 decayed from orbit on 11 January 1999. Sputnik 41 was originally intended to be built aboard Mir, based on a satellite launched in October 1997 as a backup for

Sputnik 40 Sputnik 40 (russian: Спутник 40, french: Spoutnik 40), also known as Sputnik Jr, PS-2 and Radio Sputnik 17 (RS-17), was a Franco-Russian amateur radio satellite which was launched in 1997 to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the la ...

. That spacecraft had been stored aboard the space station for a year after the successful deployment of Sputnik 40, and it was intended that it would be fitted with upgraded electronics and deployed. By the time of launch, the project had grown to involve a complete satellite, and the Sputnik 40 backup was never deployed.

References

{{Radio Sputnik Spacecraft launched in 1998 Sputnik