The Soviet Union was the first country to put a satellite in space. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite. Sputnik 1 was a small, spherical satellite that weighed about 84 kilograms (185 pounds) and was about the size of a beach ball. It was launched into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Sputnik 1 orbited the Earth for 92 days before it burned up in the atmosphere on January 4, 1958.