It was a polished metal ball, about the size of a beach ball, with four thin radio antennas sticking out like whiskers. Soviet engineers had built it in less than a month. On October 4, 1957, a giant Soviet rocket launched it into orbit around Earth. It was the first human-made object to leave the planet and stay there. They called it Sputnik, Russian for "traveling companion."
For 22 days, until its batteries died, Sputnik beeped a simple radio signal as it circled Earth every 96 minutes. Ham radio operators around the world could hear it. Newspapers published its orbital schedule so people could go outside at night and watch the tiny moving star pass overhead. Many Americans, who had assumed they were ahead of the Soviets in technology, were shocked.
Sputnik kicked off what became known as the Space Race. Within a year, the United States created NASA. Schools across America started teaching more science and math. Less than 12 years after that beeping metal ball, two Americans were walking on the Moon.
Sputnik itself wasn't built to last. After about three months, it burned up in the atmosphere on its way back down. But its launch is considered the start of the Space Age. Every satellite that delivers GPS, weather forecasts, and streaming TV today is a great-great-grandchild of that little beeping ball.
