Sputnik 2, or Prosteyshiy Sputnik 2, launched on 3 November 1957, was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit, and the first to carry an animal into orbit, a Soviet space dog named Laika.
Model of Sputnik 2 at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow
USSR postage stamp "Спутник-2"
Photograph of Sputnik 2 and its rocket taken by Air Force personnel at Air Force Missile Test Center, Patrick AFB, Florida, in March 1958.
Sputnik 1, often referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet
Sputnik 2
…become Sputnik 3) to be finished was largely motivated by the desire to launch a satellite to orbit before the US. The first of these satellites, Sputnik 1 (PS-1), was successfully launched 4 October 1957, and became the world's first artificial satellite. Immediately following the launch, Nikita Khrushchev…
Replica of Sputnik 1 in the Museum of Space and Missile Technology (Saint-Petersburg)
Last remaining piece of Sputnik 1: metal arming key which prevented contact between batteries and transmitter prior to launch; on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
30 kopek USSR stamp depicting Sputnik 1 orbiting the Earth, the Earth orbiting the Sun and the Sun orbiting the centre of the Milky Way galaxy
First ground track of Sputnik 1 on 13 October 1957 4:51 from Rodewisch