Sputnik

Hey everyone,

I'm sure that many of you know that Sputnik was the first human-made object launched into space. The first true ICBM, known to the Soviets as the R-7 Semyorka, was used to launch Sputnik after only one successful launch of the rocket. Word of a possible rocket launch appeared in the Western press, and the Soviet rocket men (Korolyov and others) decided that they could beat the Americans into space. They threw together a simple design in a less than a month. Sputnik would included a polished metal sphere, a transmitter, thermal measuring instruments, and batteries. It weighed 83.6kg. On October 4, 1957, the rocket was launched successfully into orbit. Its orbits lasted about 96 minutes. The start of the Soviet Space Program had begun along with the space race. This would be the first launch of many Sputniks. Future missions would include canine passengers and the eventual preparation for human spaceflight. However, it would not be long before the Americans would launch their own satellite.