On October 4, 1957, Soviet satellite Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, blast into space and transmitted information via radio signals to Soviet scientists for three weeks.

Sputnik II was launched in November 1957 with a a dog called Laika aboard. The flight allowed Russian scientists to learn much about the prospects for human space travel. The poor dog died from over-heating and panic just a few hours after take-off.

Via BBC “On this day”.