Sputnik - Journey into Space (in German)

Sputnik was the name of the first satellite successfully launched into Earth orbit; it was followed by nine other satellites of the same name.

On 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union launched the spherical Sputnik 1 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch sent the Western world into a panic, as it meant that the Soviet Union was now ahead in the race for space supremacy. An exciting piece of contemporary and technological history.

The author Eberhardt Rödel is a specialist in the history of Russian space flight.