Thursday, October 04, 2007

Sputnik I

On this date in 1957, the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics launched the world's first artificial satellite into outer space. Launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam, Kazakhstan, Sputnik I became the first man-made object to orbit the Earth. Spurring on the creation of NASA and the development of the Canadarm thus began the Great Space Race between Cold War enemies the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R.