What is the name of the first satellite sent into space?

The answer is: Sputnik

America and the Soviet Union were neck and neck in the space race of the late 50s and 60s. While we would beat them to the punch with the first successful mission to the Moon, we took second place when it came to launching the first satellite. The USSR’s Sputnik was launched on October 4, 1957 and was named after the Russian word for “fellow traveler.” 

This little orb was only 22 inches in diameter but a densely packed 184 pounds. After reaching orbit, it zipped around the globe at 18,000 miles per hour until its orbit deteriorated and it burned up in the atmosphere in January 1958.

Even before Sputnik had become a baked potato, the Soviets took a second record with the creatively named Sputnik II. This launch occurred only a month later but Sputnik II brought the first dog into space, a young pup named Laika. Sadly, this good pupper would not make it back home.

Seeing our rivals touching the final frontier before us lit a fire under America to fast-track our space efforts in response. Space isn’t big enough for both of us, after all. Plus, there was the not-so-crazy fear that the Soviets would be able to spy on us from above, or worse.

The same month that Sputnik was cooking in the atmosphere, the US finally got its own satellite into orbit called Explorer. While Sputnik didn’t do much besides send some radio signals back to Earth, Explorer was more advanced and helped discover some magnetic radiation belts around Earth.

The Soviets did get a lot of firsts in the space race - the first satellite, the first dog in space, the first man and woman in space, the first space walk, and the first craft to orbit the moon - but America proved that slow and steady wins the (space) race by successfully landing two astronauts on the moon and bringing them home safe.