Sputnik – Nostalgia Central

The world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched into low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957, catching the Western world by surprise and officially igniting the ‘Space Race‘.

The polished aluminium alloy sphere – the first man-made object ever to leave the Earth’s atmosphere – measured 58 cm (23 inches) in diameter (roughly the size of a beach ball) and weighed just 83.6 kg (183.9 lbs).

The satellite had four external whip antennas and housed two simple radio transmitters, three silver-zinc batteries, and a cooling fan. It carried no scientific imaging instruments.

Sputnik was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome using a modified R-7 Semyorka intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It travelled on an elliptical path at speeds of around 18,000 mph (29,000 km/h), taking approximately 96 minutes to complete a single orbit around Earth.

The satellite’s batteries died after 21 days, and it then silently orbited the Earth until 4 January 1958, completing 1,440 orbits before falling back into the planet’s atmosphere and burning up.

The launch created immense fear in America, proving that the Soviet military possessed ICBM technology capable of delivering nuclear warheads across continents, and forcing the US government to accelerate its military and technological funding, which led directly to the creation of NASA in 1958.

The Soviets launched Sputnik 2 just a month later in November 1957, carrying a dog named Laika, the first living creature in orbit.

Sadly, Laika died between 5 and 7 hours into the flight due to a combination of extreme overheating, dehydration, and panic, although the Soviets publicly claimed that the dog had survived comfortably in orbit for several days before being painlessly euthanised with poisoned food.

Despite the global ethical outrage it sparked, the mission proved a critical scientific milestone. proving that a living mammal could withstand launch forces and survive the initial transition to zero gravity, paving the way for future human spaceflight.