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On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik 1. It took around 98 minutes to orbit the Earth and was the world's first artificial satellite that was about the size of a beach ball.
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On November 3, 1957 the first dog was sent into space in the second ever spacecraft to orbit Earth. The dog, Laika entered the Soviet Sputnik 2 spacecraft and died on the flight as the technology to return from orbit had not yet been developed.
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Explorer 1 was the first successful spacecraft launched by the US. It was launched into orbit by the army on January 31, 1958, four months after Russia orbited Sputnik. The 18 pound satellite was 80 inches long.
