It be on this day fifty-three years ago that t' Soviet Union launched t' world's first satellite. Well, blow me down! Sergey Korolyov's original plan was t' use his R-7 Semyorka t' launch a 1400kg payload fully equipped with all kinds o' scientific instruments, named "Object D". Begad! T' Soviet Union purely wanted t' R-7 t' be used for military purposes and saw t' satellite program as immaterial. Avast! A side-salad. Ahoy! But Khrushchev still gave Korolyov t' go ahead. Development on Object D hit some snags along t' way however. T' contractors kept sendin' parts when, shiver me timbers, upon delivery, arrr, didn't fit where they were supposed t' go. This put delays on t' program. Blimey! T' had insult t' injury, Werhner von Braun's Jupiter-C was hailed in t' American press and Korolyov feared loosin' t' milestone o' first satellite t' t' US. So a decision was made t' strip "Object D" down t' an 84kg package containin' only a few radio radio transmitters. Avast! This would secure Russia t' position o' bein' t' first t' launch a satellite and t' original Object D concept would be postponed t' a later date. Begad! In retrospect, arrr, Korolyov had nothin' t' worry about. Avast! Although von Braun had perfected his Jupiter-C in 1956, it was derived from his Nazi V-2 rocket. T' American government was reluctant t' let their first satellite be launched usin' Nazi technology. They wanted their first satellite t' be 100% made in t' USA. So t' satellite contract went t' t' US Navy, who were still in t' process o' finalizin' their plans when Sputnik ...