Once in orbit, Sputnik 1 maintained an orbital speed of approximately eight km/s and completed one orbit every 96.2 minutes. The satellite remained in orbit for 21 days, transmitting signals back ...

It was the beginning of the space age: the launch by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 of Sputnik 1, the world’s first ... of the Soviet space dogs, into orbit on the considerably larger ...