On Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the satellite that started the Space Race. Discover more space history 👉 https://trib.al/f0ySF2J Sputnik 1 was the first human-made object to orbit the Earth, and it set off a wave of fear and anxiety across the U.S. now known as the "Sputnik crisis." Sputnik was a metal sphere roughly 2 feet (58 cm) in diameter with four long radio antennas. These antennas transmitted little beeping pulses down to Earth that even amateur radio operators cou