Episode

Sputnik

Podcast

Citation Needed

Published

Mar 4, 2026

Duration seconds

2007

Processing state

not_requested

Canonical source

https://citationpod.libsyn.com/sputnik

Audio

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/35/clrtpod.com/m/arttrk.com/p/ARTS0/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/citationpod/cn464-wide.mp3?dest-id=518557

JSON

/v1/public/podcasts/citation-needed-8016/episodes/sputnik

Markdown

/podcast/citation-needed-8016/sputnik.md

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Summary

Sputnik 1 ( / ˈ s p ʌ t n ɪ k , ˈ s p ʊ t n ɪ k / , Russian : Спутник-1 , Satellite 1 ), often referred to as simply Sputnik , was the first artificial Earth satellite . It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program . It sent a radio signal back to Earth for three weeks before its three silver-zinc batteries became depleted. Aerodynamic drag caused it to fall back into the atmosphere on 4 January 1958.