Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

Sputnik: Traveling Companion

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 3, 1998 is “Sputnik: Traveling Companion,” an image. It is credited to Credit: Courtesy NASA History Office. The original explanation runs about 106 words.

Sputnik: Traveling Companion
Credit: Courtesy NASA History Office Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the 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, October 3, 1998

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
October 3, 1998
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Courtesy NASA History Office
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 October 1998 → · 1998 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: October 3 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.