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Article: Time trip.(Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite)
- Article from:
- Current Events, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- May 6, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Weekly Reader Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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On Oct. 4, 1957, a mysterious beeping sound interrupted radio and television broadcasts around the world. The eerie noise sparked bewilderment and fear--as well as angry calls to local repairmen.
The beeping was a coded message from the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1. Launched by what was then the Soviet Union (see map on page 4), Spulnik orbited Earth every 96 minutes.
Sputnik did more than just transmit information. It set off an intense competition between the United States and the Soviet Union that came to be known as the "space race." The two countries were already mired in the Cold War (1945-1991), a nonmilitary struggle for power, ...