The History of Space Exploration
Photos and information from http://www.nytimes.com/partners/aol/special/sputnik/
Ever since the beginning of time, man has looked at the stars and dreamed. However, the technology to actually explore the stars was not available until the middle of this century.
The first possibilities for sending a missile into orbit came about in World War II. The rockets that the Germans fired only flew from Germany to Britain. However, it didn't take long after the war for the Russians to realise that similar technology could be used for launching an orbiting space probe.
Sputnik
Sputnik was the first artificial (man-made) satelite put into orbit around the earth. It was launched by the Russians in October 1957. It caused worldwide amazement, and the continual beeping of the on-board radio transmitter was heard all over the world by radio hams.
It was a very simple, compact design, and was designed to do nothing more than send out a "dit, dit, dit, dah" signal. However, it captured the imaginations of millions, and was the official start of the "space race" between the Russians and the Americans.
The American Reply
