Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

Sputnik: Traveling Companion Courtesy:

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 27, 1997 is “Sputnik: Traveling Companion Courtesy:,” an image. Credit details are listed on the original page. The original explanation runs about 106 words.

Sputnik: Traveling Companion Courtesy:
Credit: see the original page Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“Explanation : Sputnik means “traveling companion”. Despite the innocuous sounding name, the launch of the Earth’s first “artificial moon”, Sputnik 1 , by the Soviets on October 4, 1957 shocked the free world, setting in motion events which resulted in the creation of NASA and the race to the Moon .”

— APOD editors, April 27, 1997

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
April 27, 1997
Type
Image
Credit
See the original page
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 106 words

All of April 1997 → · 1997 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

The Moon

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: April 27 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.