Sputnik satellite launched by Soviet Union on this day in 1957 triggered Space Race

The former Soviet Union fueled the space race on this day in 1957 when it successfully launched the first artificial satellite named Sputnik into the Earth's orbit. In the Russian language, satellite translates to Sputnik and hence the name. After the Second World War was over, the United States and the USSR were battling each other in the Cold War to become the superpower of the modern world and what better way to prove their supremacy than racing to space. 

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The Communist State secured a lead by becoming the first country in the world to send a satellite into space in 1957 and then the first one to send a human in 1961. The Sputnik orbited for nearly four months before falling back and burning up in the atmosphere. The life of Sputnik, however, was only for three weeks as it was able to send signals back to Earth until October 26 before the transmitter batteries died. 

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Sputnik 1

Sputnik travelled at about 29,000 kilometres per hour taking just over 96 minutes to complete a single orbit. Sputnik had completed 1440 orbits of the Earth and had travelled a distance of about 70 million kilometres before it fell. the signals transmitted by Sputnik for 21 days were monitored throughout the world, including the United States, which at that time was fighting to get ahead of the USSR in the space race. 

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The Sputnik was officially launched to correspond with the International Geophysical Year (IGY), which the then US President Dwight D. Eisenhower had announced as the year the United States would launch an artificial satellite into the Earth's orbit. The United States became the second country to launch an artificial satellite with its Explorer 1 in February 1958. However, Explorer 1 remained the third satellite to be sent into space as the Soviet Union had already launched the Sputnik 2 in November 1957. 

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