On November 3, 1957, a Soviet space dog named Laika became the first animal to orbit Earth. Laika was a 3-year-old stray husky-spitz mix from the streets of Moscow, and she was recruited by the Soviet ...

Forty years ago, Sputnik and the Soviets set the course for a space race with the West. Now the satellite, the space race - and even the Soviet Union itself - are gone. But Sputnik’s legacy endures.

GAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Dec. 6--The Vanguard test rocket--with U.S. hopes for some recaptured prestige aboard--barely struggled off the ground today, then fell back and exploded. Although there are two ...

The third stage of Sputnik I's rocket may have plunged to its death on its 879th circuit Saturday night, announced Fred L. Whipple, Director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Whipple bases ...

The Sputnik 8K71PS rocket streaks across the sky over Montreal on its way to deliver Sputnik 1 into orbit. Scientists from the California Institute of Technology track Sputnik 1 from a mobile van.

October 4, 1957: a little 83.6 kg (184 lb) object entered the microgravity environment of Low Earth Orbit. With this unprecedented achievement, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics became the first ...

Our dear rocket launch-platform Sputnik is still moored to the docks of Space Port Nexoe on the Island of Bornholm, but not for long. We did discuss keeping her on the island because we will be back ...

Fifty years ago Thursday, the Soviet Union started the Space Age by sending the first man-made satellite into orbit around the earth. Sputnik changed history when it went into space on Oct. 4, 1957, ...

The Space Age began on October 4, 1957, exactly 60 years ago. On that date, the Soviet Union used a rocket originally intended for use with ballistic missiles to launch Sputnik 1, a small polished ...