Sputnik's legacy

Oct 1, 2007

The first artificial satellite was little more than a sphere of metal that let out the odd radio-frequency beep, and its only purpose was to demonstrate the superiority of Soviet missile technology. But the launch of Sputnik 1 half a century ago this month has made near-Earth space and the rest of the solar system a much less mysterious place today than it might otherwise have been, explains Richard Corfield

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