Sputnik 1 was protected by a cone-shaped payload fairing while attached to the rocket. The launch was a roller coaster ride, ...

It was the beginning of the space age: the launch by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 of Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite. With the Soviet Union and the US locked in an ...

Founded in 1993, The Motley Fool is a financial services company dedicated to making the world smarter, happier, and richer.

Sputnik 1 was the object that began the era of space exploration when it was launched from the USSR in 1957. Many people will remember the wonder of hearing the regular 'beeps' of the radio signal ...

Both nations endeavored to perfect their satellites and launch first, and on October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union sent Sputnik 1 into orbit. Just a month after propelling the first satellite into ...

In Washington’s policy circles, warnings about America’s declining space dominance have become a familiar refrain. Yet these concerns are not mere bureaucratic hand-wringing — they reflect a ...

Johnson, calling the Sputnik launch “a second Pearl Harbor”, held ... had died of overheating before four orbits were completed 1. Nonetheless, even a month later, Vanguard could not lift ...

Americans certainly remember Sputnik. At a time when the world was larger and scarier, the Soviets had a metal basketball flying over the United States and the rest of the world. It made people ...

Sputnik 1 was the object that began the era of space exploration when it was launched from the USSR in 1957. Many people will remember the wonder of hearing the regular 'beeps' of the radio signal ...