1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 Sputnik 1&amp;nbsp;(/ˈspʌtnɪk,&amp;nbsp;ˈspʊtnɪk/,&amp;nbsp;Russian:&amp;nbsp;Спутник-1,&amp;nbsp;Satellite 1), often referred to as simply&amp;nbsp;Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth&amp;nbsp;satellite. It was launched into an elliptical&amp;nbsp;low Earth orbit&amp;nbsp;by the&amp;nbsp;Soviet Union&amp;nbsp;on 4 October 1957 as part of the&amp;nbsp;Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for three weeks before its three&amp;nbsp;silver-zinc batteries became depleted. Aerodynamic drag caused it to fall back into the atmosphere on 4 January 1958. Citation Needed http://citationpod.com <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/40252355/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/content/199035540