On October 4th 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1. This was the world's first artificial satellite, it only weighed 183 pounds and was roughly the size of a basketball. It took Sputnik 98 minutes to complete one orbit of the earth on an elliptical path.
In July of 1955 the US government announced they would release their first satellite Vanguard. When Sputnik was launched first this changed everything, the American public saw this as a threat, being that the Soviets had the power to send a satellite into the sky it wouldn't be long before they would be able to build and fire their own missiles for, this was one of the starting points for the infamous cold war era. On the 3rd of November Sputnik II was launched carrying a dog named Laika and a much heavier payload.
On January 31st 1958 the United States launched Explorer 1 and entered the space race. In October 1st 1958 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration came into being. NASA! |
