The first country to put a satellite into space was the Soviet Union. 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 83.6 kilograms (184.3 pounds). It orbited the Earth for 22 days before burning up in the atmosphere.

The Soviet Union also launched the first human into space. On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to travel into space. Gagarin's spacecraft, Vostok 1, orbited the Earth for 108 minutes before landing safely in the Soviet Union.