October 4, 1957

Today In History

Cold War tensions were at their highest when the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite on October 4, 1957. The spacecraft was launched at exactly 10:29 p.m. Moscow time from the Tyraturam base in the Kazakh Republic. The spacecraft was named Sputnik after the Russian word for “fellow traveler.” It had a diameter of 22 inches, weighed 184 pounds, and circled Earth once every hour and 36 minutes. This caught the United States government by surprise and while trying to catch up with the technology it officially started the “Space Race”.