Nowadays, it’s difficult to imagine how a simple beeping radio signal could captivate the world. But it did, after the Soviet Union announced on Oct. 5, 1957 that it had launched Sputnik, the world’s ...

A Soviet technician works on Sputnik 1 before its launch in 1957. In October 1957, amateur radio operators monitored the first signal from a spacefaring civilization — and it was us. Sputnik 1, the ...

NASA reflects on 50th anniversary of the satellite that started the space race. Oct. 3, 2007 — -- It started with a simple beep on Oct. 4, 1957. But it was a beep heard around the world. When the ...

This is the eighth in an exclusive series of 50 articles, one published each day until July 20, exploring the 50th anniversary of the first-ever Moon landing. You can check out 50 Days to the Moon ...

On Oct. 4, 1957, Soviet engineers amazed the world by placing Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, into orbit around the Earth. Sputnik was a huge embarrassment for U.S. technological leaders, but ...

It came out of nowhere, 50 years ago Thursday, on Oct. 4, 1957. Or so it seemed to a dumbstruck American public. Powered into space by a Soviet R-7 rocket, a silvery satellite named Sputnik Zemlyi ...

Theatre Company of Lafayette is the chihuahua of the local theater community. The little dog thinks it’s a Doberman. It continues to launch audacious programming initiatives that bigger programs with ...

Launching of the Russian satellite is man’s first successful attempt to navigate the ocean of space around the earth. Despite the chagrin of U.S. rocketmen, few disparaged the Russian achievement. In ...

Forty years ago, Sputnik and the Soviets set the course for a space race with the West. Now the satellite, the space race - and even the Soviet Union itself - are gone. But Sputnik’s legacy endures.

The Sputnik launches were more than just a wake-up call for the U.S. In the scramble to show that the United States could stay ahead technologically, the space race was born, and with John F.