When Sputnik became the first manmade satellite to enter space on Oct. 4, 1957, its alien beeping shocked America. Its signal stopped after just three weeks, and three months later sky gazers ...

Sputnik may have been a compromise, but in the eyes of the world it was a large feat. The beeping noise it played from space echoed in worldwide radio broadcasts, as well as on television sets.

Few people actually saw Sputnik and its rocket take off — and when they did, they feared at first that the launch was a failure. The world's first-ever orbital liftoff provided a new perspective ...

Although Sputnik-1 will always be remembered as a shock to Americans, it is surprising how thinly veiled the development of the first satellite in orbit really was. On April 15, 1955, the ...

A new world. Prior to Sputnik, popular interest in science and technology had been on the rise since as early as the 1939 "World of Tomorrow" World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York.