Explanation:
Sputnik means "traveling companion".
Despite the innocuous sounding name, the
launch of planet Earth's first artificial moon,
Sputnik
1, by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957,
changed the world and set in motion events which resulted in the
creation of NASA
and the race to the Moon.
Sputnik 1
was a 184 pound, 22 inch diameter sphere
with four whip antennas
connected to battery powered transmitters.
The transmitters broadcast a continuous "beeping" signal to an
astounded earthbound audience for 23 days.
A short month later, on November 3, the Soviet Union followed this
success by
launching a dog
into orbit aboard
Sputnik 2.
