Sputnik

Before Sputnik, America was in a "battle" with Russia on space flight. America wanted to be the first in space, on the moon, and have the first satellite orbit the Earth.

- When Sputnik (Russian Satellite) went into space, tension was created by which we had lost part of the Space Race. It put Russia ahead of America in the Space Race.

Satellites in low orbit are affected by drag from the very top layer of the atmosphere. This drag eventually slows them down, which brings them in contact with denser layers of atmosphere, which slows them down and brings them down even more. Eventually, they burn up by the heat from rushing real fast through the air.

Sputnik 1 was launched into Earth's orbit on 4 October 1957. It remained there for less than 3 months and collected atmospheric data. The satellite fell out of orbit on 4 January 1958. It burned up upon reentry into the Earth's atmosphere.

The dog, Laika, died due to temperature increase.

"Sputnik 1 burned up on January 4, 1958. It fell from orbit upon re-entering earth's atmosphere after traveling about 60 million km (37 million miles) and spending 3 months in orbit." That straight from Wikipedia. A link is provided.

There were in fact several Sputnik satellites, but I imagine you're asking about the very first.

Sputnik-1 spent 3 months in orbit before re-entering and burning up. It was launched on October 4 1957, and was destroyed on January 4 1958. So it's location today would be... nowhere. It's believed to have been destroyed entirely. There is one piece left of sputnik, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1 This metal arming key is the last remaining piece of the first Sputnik satellite. It prevented contact between the batteries and the transmitter prior to launch. Currently on display at the National Air and Space Museum.

America was worried that Russia could start bombing them if they wanted. The fear of Russia being the first ones in space was amplified by the Cold War, and many Americans thought that by dominating space, the Russians would be able to launch any kind of attack they felt like at any time on the U.S. from space without any opposition, because the U.S. had no satellites in space. It started the space race, which was a period of time during which the United States rushed to get satellites up into space as well, to close the rift that had emerged between Russian and American space technology.

When the soviets launched Sputnik, it caused America to freak out. They were worried that the satellite contained a weapon that would be fired at America. They also feared they were way behind in technology compared to the soviets.

It was the first human-made satellite, (launched from Russia on Oct. 4, 1957), to orbit the Earth. A space probe leaves the orbit of Earth and goes off into distant space. Sputnik only left Earth's orbit to burn up in the upper atmosphere on Jan. 4, 1958.

No

Sputnik was a series of early satellites sent up by Russia/ the Soviet Union. the second in the series, Sputnik 2 carried a dog into space.

But since Sputnik means something like travelling companion in Russian it seems quite likely that there are dogs with that name too.

They were unmanned, although Sputnik 2 carried a dog into space.

It was launched into an elliptical low earth orbit.

Sputnik with its puppy dog passenger( Laika ) was launched in October 1957, and remained in orbit until early 1958, when it reentered EarthÂ’s atmosphere and burned up

Sputnik 1 was in orbit for 3 months, completing 1440 orbits.

Sputnik 2, Laika's flight, was in orbit for 162 days. There were other missions, but these two, especially Sputnik 1, were the ones to capture the world's - especially the US'- attention.

Anything in orbit could be considered a satellite. There is one natural satellite - the moon. There are hundreds of navigation, communications, weather, science/experimental and military/intelligence satellites in orbit. There are thousands of bits of "space junk" orbiting the earth at present.

a while probaly a few months

Sputnik 1 weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb)

There were several unsuccessful attempts by both the USSR and the USA before

the first one that successfully achieved orbit.

The first successful one was launched by the USSR, from the Baikonur Kosmodrome

in Kazakhstan, on October 4, 1957, and it stayed up for about 3 months.

The purpose was to demonstrate that the country could launch the necessary

weight, and achieve the necessary pinpoint navigation, to plant a nuclear warhead

anywhere in the world they wanted to.

Again, the USSR succeeded first.

No, it was far too crude for that.

Sputnik 1 was mainly to prove that a man-made object could be put in orbit and remain functioning there.

The United States' fears of Sputnik 1 were based on the premise of a Soviet-American pending missile gap. The reasoning went that if the Soviets could launch Sputnik into orbit, the technological threshold for intercontinental ballistic missiles laden with nuclear warheads was now crossed. However, and ultimately a missile gap never came to exist between the two powers suggesting American paranoia.

Sputnik made schools modernize their curiculums. The advanced studies in engineering had to be taught. Because of Sputnik there was new methods of teaching. Students could learn this technology.

It started the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by many amateur radio operators

Most of the USSR's space endeavours were launched from Baikonur in central Kazkahstan.