- The first human-made object put into space was called “Sputnik,” which was launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957 . “Sputnik” means “companion” or “fellow traveler” in Russian.
- It was launched into a low-Earth orbit barely above the Earth's atmosphere. It was not used for two-way communications since it could only transmit a signal to Earth.
- No one knows who first had the idea of satellites.
