Released from a Russian museum, it will hang nicely from the rafters at our space museum at work.  
<p>Manufactured by the Soviet Academy of Sciences — the group that  held responsibility for the general scientific leadership of Sputnik and the supply of research instruments — this full-scale shell measures 2’x7’ long. 
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Sputnik was the first object placed in orbit, back in the U.S.S.R., October 1957.  It was the beep-beep-beep heard round the world.  Its radio transmitters provided data on the Earth's ionosphere and on the structure and temperature of the upper atmosphere. More significantly, its creation ignited the historic Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union.  Its radio signal was easily detectable by ham radio enthusiasts (20 and 40 MHz), and the 65° orbital inclination and duration of its orbit made its flight path cover virtually the entire inhabited Earth, proving to all that they had done it.
Steve Jurvetson
CC BY 2.0
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