October 4

What happened on October 4 in aviation and space history.

• October 4, 1957

  Sputnik 1 launch

  Space milestone — On October 4, 1957 the USSR orbited the first artificial satellite in history from Baikonur, opening the Space Age.

• October 4, 1957

  Launch of Sputnik 1

  Space launch — On 4 October 1957 the Soviet Union placed Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite, into an elliptical low Earth orbit. It transmitted a radio signal back to Earth for three weeks until its three silver-zinc batteries ran flat. Aerodynamic drag brought it back into the atmosphere on 4 January 1958, by which time it had already set off the Space Race.