The first Sputnik beeped for only three weeks, until its batteries died, then circled the Earth silently for over two more months.

1957 · 1958 · apart: 1 year

It burned up on 4 January 1958 after 1,440 orbits.

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The event

• Sputnik 1, the first satellite1957 · Baikonur. On 4 October 1957 the Soviet Union put the first artificial Earth satellite into orbit, its radio beeps picked up around the world. The launch opened the Space Age and started the space race between the USSR and the United States.

20th century

More amazing facts

• 1956 In autumn 1956 the world watched two crises at once: the Anglo-French landing at the Suez Canal and Soviet tanks in Budapest.
• 1957 1957: the USSR launched the first satellite, and six countries signed the Treaty of Rome, the seed of the future EU.
• 1957 1957: Ghana became one of the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to throw off colonial rule, and the USSR launched the first satellite.
• 1957 · 1966 The name of the man behind Sputnik and Gagarin's spacecraft was a state secret.
• 1957 The Soviets recruited space dogs from the streets, reasoning that Moscow strays were already used to cold and hunger.
• 1957 · 1960 Brazil's capital is younger than the first satellite.

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