On Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the satellite that started the Space Race.
Sputnik 1 was the first human-made object to orbit the Earth, and it set off a wave of fear and anxiety across the U.S. now known as the "Sputnik crisis." Sputnik was a metal sphere roughly 2 feet (58 cm) in diameter with four long radio antennas. These antennas transmitted little beeping pulses down to Earth that even amateur radio operators could hear. The satellite spent 21 days in orbit before it burned up in Earth's atmosphere.
Sputnik 1 was the first human-made object to orbit the Earth, and it set off a wave of fear and anxiety across the U.S. now known as the "Sputnik crisis." Sputnik was a metal sphere roughly 2 feet (58 cm) in diameter with four long radio antennas. These antennas transmitted little beeping pulses down to Earth that even amateur radio operators could hear. The satellite spent 21 days in orbit before it burned up in Earth's atmosphere.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:03In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the satellite that started the space race.
00:09Sputnik 1 was the first human-made object to orbit the Earth,
00:12and it set off a wave of fear and anxiety across the U.S. now known as the Sputnik Crisis.
00:17Sputnik was a metal sphere roughly two feet in diameter with four long radio antennas.
00:22These antennas transmitted little beeping pulses down to Earth that even amateur radio operators could hear.
00:28The satellite spent 21 days in orbit before it burned up in Earth's atmosphere.
00:32And that's what happened on this day in space.