Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

50th Anniversary of Sputnik: Traveling Companion

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 4, 2007 is “50th Anniversary of Sputnik: Traveling Companion,” an image. It is credited to Photo Credit: Courtesy NSSDC , NASA. The original explanation runs about 106 words.

50th Anniversary of Sputnik: Traveling Companion
Credit: Photo Credit: Courtesy NSSDC , NASA Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“Sputnik means “traveling companion”. Despite the innocuous sounding name, the launch of planet Earth’s first artificial moon, Sputnik 1 , by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, changed the world and set in motion events which resulted in the creation of NASA and the race to the Moon.”

— APOD editors, October 4, 2007

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
October 4, 2007
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Photo Credit: Courtesy NSSDC , NASA
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 2007 → · 2007 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 4 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.