You are here

Make a model of Sputnik

Sputnik 1 was the first man made satellite.

Make a model Sputnik you’ll need:

How to make:

  • Tape thread to polystyrene ball (this is for hanging up the final model)
  • Cover ball with tinfoil
  • Colour skewers black or grey
  • Push skewers into the polystyrene ball
  • Hang up
  • About Sputnik:

    Sputnik 1 was the first man made satellite. It was a 58 cm diameter polished metal sphere, with four radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses.

    The Soviet Union launched it into a low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable.

    The satellite travelled at about 29,000 kilometres per hour (18,000 mph), taking 96.2 minutes to complete each orbit.

    The signals continued for 22 days until the transmitter batteries ran out on 26 October 1957. Sputnik 1 burned up on 4 January 1958, as it fell from orbit upon reentering Earth's atmosphere, after travelling about 70 million km (43.5 million miles) and spending 3 months in orbiting the Earth.

    See video below for launch footage

Tags: 
video: