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You are here: Home / Space / When Was Sputnik Launched Into Orbit By the USSR and How Long Did the First Satellite Orbit the Earth?

When Was Sputnik Launched Into Orbit By the USSR and How Long Did the First Satellite Orbit the Earth?

March 20, 2020 by Karen Hill

On October 4, 1957, Sputnik 1 was launched in the former Soviet Union, in Kazakhstan, near the town of Leninsk.

This represented the first successful space launch.

Sputnik 1 was little more than a radio transmitter, but its 90-minute orbit of the Earth ushered in the space age.

Apart from being a technological first, Sputnik also helped to identify the upper atmospheric layer’s density, and provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere.

Sputnik 1 burned up on 4 January 1958, when it reentered Earth’s atmosphere, after travelling about 60 million km, or 37 million miles, and spending 3 months in orbit around earth.

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Filed Under: Space

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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