In October 1957, amateur radio operators monitored the first signal from a spacefaring civilization —— and it was us.
Sputnik 1, the first satellite to orbit the Earth, launched on Oct. 4 of that year from a site in Kazakhstan, then a part of the USSR. That site is now the Baikonur Cosmodrome; at the time it was site 1/5 at the Tyuratam range.
The Soviets had planned on a sophisticated scientific satellite, according to Cathy Lewis, curator of international space programs at the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. But they felt they were under time pressure; they wanted a launch as soon as possible because even then they had a sense of urgency. "They needed something very simple," she told Space.com. [ Sputnik 1! 7 Fun Facts About Humanity's First Satellite ]
We have come a long way from that time.
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I can still recall when I first got the news about it. I was in my editorial office of my university (I was the editor of my univesity's newpaper) and we made it our headline story.
I remember the launch and sound well. The one thing that it did was push the US to launch and take the lead in space exploration.
I recall in the early to late 60s, there was a a phone number you could call to get locations and time frames of crossing satellites. The satellites were smaller then, but many were in low orbit. We would select clear Friday and Saturday nights to look for them and watched as they would traverse the night sky. They would be a small shiny dot traversing the sky at what seemed a rapid pace.