On the 4th October 1957, Sputnik 1 or “Cпутник-1” was launched into orbit. It heralded the ability of humankind to launch objects into orbit as well as providing the first insight to the conditions ...

October 4, 2007 Today marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Sputnik satellite. Even half a century on, the impact of the October 4th 1957 launch that saw the Soviet Union’s satellite became ...

Exactly 58 years ago, the former Soviet Union shocked the world by launching the first artificial satellite into Earth orbit. Awestruck American officials listened in fear as Sputnik barreled through ...

A Soviet technician works on Sputnik 1 before its launch in 1957. In October 1957, amateur radio operators monitored the first signal from a spacefaring civilization — and it was us. Sputnik 1, the ...

The Sputnik 8K71PS rocket streaks across the sky over Montreal on its way to deliver Sputnik 1 into orbit. Scientists from the California Institute of Technology track Sputnik 1 from a mobile van.

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I cover the history of science and exploration. The object that started the Space Race was small and deceptively simple. Sputnik 1 ...

There may actually have been three Sputnik moments. The Soviet Union's Oct. 4, 1957, launch of the first-ever artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, created quite a stir, to be sure. It did kick off the ...

When Sputnik 1 launched 60 years ago — on Oct. 4, 1957 — LIFE Magazine’s audience had to get used to a new reality. In a very literal sense, there was a “dazzling new sight in the heavens,” as the ...

Fifty-five years ago today, the Space Race was kicked into gear by a silver basketball flying through the sky. Sputnik 1, the Soviet probe that became the first manmade object to reach space, launched ...

The Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1 was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on October 4, 1957, making it the first successful artificial satellite and marking the start of ...