Sputnik 1 the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957, orbiting for three weeks before its batteries died, then silently for two more months before falling back into the atmosphere.

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Photo credit: © World History Archive/Ilia Boltianov/Russia Office / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1, 1957, archival, archive, artificial, astronomy, earth, historical, history, orbit, race, russia, satellite, soviet, space, sputnik, union, ussr