Last year at this time I wrote an article about Sputnik and how it changed the world in October 1957. Here is another, with updates and additions, on the verge of the 51st anniversary of that historical event. I know that some teenagers read this site, even though to them Nixon is prehistory so let’s quickly review for the young folks what happened, or what seemed to happen, when Sputnik, the first ever earth satellite, built in Russia, began to orbit the Earth every 96 minutes on October 4th 1957. It had a skin of polished aluminium and was visible from Earth.

My October looks very busy at the moment so while we are here on the verge of the 50th anniversary of that historical event, let’s quickly review for the young folks what happened, or what seemed to happen, when Sputnik, the first ever earth satellite, built in Russia, began to orbit the Earth every 96 minutes on October 4th 1957. It had a skin of polished aluminium and was visible from Earth.