The 'Sputnik' Everyone Saw Was a Rocket
In October 1957, people everywhere went outside to watch the first artificial satellite sail across the night sky. What most of them saw wasn't the satellite.
What was reported
When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957, newspapers told readers where to look for it, and crowds gathered at dusk and dawn to watch a bright star glide steadily across the sky. For many, it was a thrilling and frightening sight.
But the satellite itself was a polished sphere just 58 centimetres across, too faint to see easily without binoculars.
Explanations offered
What most people saw was the 26-metre-long core stage of the R-7 rocket that had launched it, which was also in orbit, reflecting sunlight and bright enough to see easily. It fell back to Earth in early December 1957. Sputnik 1 lasted until January 1958.
- When
- October–December 1957
- Where
- In orbit, launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan
- Witnesses
- Millions of people around the world
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.