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All the United States Wisconsin Manitowoc Sputnik IV Crash Site

Sputnik IV Crash Site

A metal ring in the middle of the road marks the exact spot where the Soviet satellite crash-landed in 1962.

Manitowoc, Wisconsin

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Lew Blank
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Sputnik crash site marker   AltioraPeto / CC BY-SA 3.0
Plaque commemorating the Sputnik crash   AltioraPeto / CC BY-SA 3.0
Costumes at Sputnikfest   wheretheheckarethealbans / CC BY-SA 2.0
Crazy alien costume at Sputnikfest   Discover Wisconsin / CC BY-SA 2.0
  MichelleWenzy / Atlas Obscura User
The IV Sputnik crash site - the centre lines are now double yellow   jolennox / Atlas Obscura User
  MichelleWenzy / Atlas Obscura User
  MichelleWenzy / Atlas Obscura User
  MichelleWenzy / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Driving down 8th Street in Manitowoc, you may pass by an inconspicuous brass ring embedded in the middle of the road. While the ring may not appear to be anything extraordinary upon first glance, it actually marks the crash site of the Soviet satellite Sputnik, a piece of astronomical history that has given rise to one of the most bizarre festivals in Wisconsin.

The brass ring in 8th Street is a memorial to a 20-pound piece of space junk that struck the town on September 5, 1962, after breaking off from the 5-ton Korabl-Sputnik 1 (called "Sputnik IV" in the West). It's truly out of this world. 

The Soviets had launched the spacecraft into orbit two years earlier, in 1960, 5,000 miles away from Manitowoc. But when the crew had tried to return it to Earth a few days later, the spacecraft inadvertently went even higher into orbit due to a computer glitch. When Sputnik finally left orbit in 1962, most of it was burned in the atmosphere, except for a little chunk that crash-landed in Manitowoc. 

Once the blackened, fiery space junk crashed, most of the people in town ignored it, including two police officers, who assumed it was merely a piece of scrap metal from a nearby foundry. But when the officers heard the news that the Korabl-Sputnik had reentered Earth's atmosphere, they were able to put two and two together.

The policemen sent the space junk to the Smithsonian, who, perhaps mockingly, sent it back to Russia to remind them of their embarrassment. Two replicas were made, one of which is still on display in Manitowoc’s Rahr-West Art Museum.

The crash landing of the “Kerplunknik” space junk is perhaps Manitowoc’s biggest claim to fame, and it has even been the inspiration for the annual Sputnikfest, a space-themed festival featuring the Ms. Space Debris Pageant, the Cosmic Cake competition, the Alien Drop raffle, and various other extraterrestrial oddities. What’s best is the ridiculous costumes that emerge, spanning from coneheads drinking vodka to Russians with a hammer and sickle.

Related Tags

Space Festivals Space Exploration Crash Site Astronomy Technology Memorials

Know Before You Go

The ring that marks the crash site is located in the dead center of 8th St. just a few feet north of its intersection with Park St. 8th St. can be very busy.

Community Contributors

Added By

lewblank

Edited By

TigerRAWk, jolennox, MichelleWenzy

  • TigerRAWk
  • jolennox
  • MichelleWenzy

Published

October 11, 2017

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Sources
  • http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/sputnik-soviet-probe-wisconsin-space-junk
  • https://www.airspacemag.com/articles/when-sputnik-crashed-wisconsin-180952388/
  • https://www.space.com/23029-sputnikfest-soviet-satellite-fall-wisconsin.html
  • https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12959
  • "Sputnik Crashed Here," Roadside America, https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12959
  • Robin Higham and Jacob W. Kipp, 2019, Soviet Aviation And Air Power: A Historical View (Routledge, 2019), https://books.google.com/books?id=tHSqDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT282&ots=vE9K1huKAj&dq=%22korabl%20sputnik%201%22%20weight&pg=PT282#v=onepage&q=%22korabl%20sputnik%201%22%20weight&f=false
Sputnik IV Crash Site
Park St and N 8th St
Manitowoc, Wisconsin
United States
44.098827, -87.657696
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