Sputnik 1 - First Artificial Satellite to Orbit the Earth

Sputnik 1 was the First Artificial Satellite to Orbit the Earth on Oct 04, 1957.
The satellite travelled at about 29,000 kilometers (18,000 miles) per hour, taking 96.2 minutes to complete each orbit. It transmitted on 20.005 and 40.002 MHzwhich were monitored by Amateur Radio Operators throughout the world.The signals continued for 22 days until the transmitter batteries ran out on Oct 26, 1957.

Sputnik 1 burned up on 4 January 1958, as it fell from orbit upon reentering earth's atmosphere, after travelling about 60 million km (37 million miles) and spending 3 months in orbit.

The Soviet Union inaugurates the "Space Age" with its launch of Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. The spacecraft, named Sputnik after the Russian word for "satellite," was launched at 10:29 p.m. Moscow time from the Tyuratam launch base in the Kazakh Republic.