Sputnik 1 launch video

A YouTube video shows the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957.

Sputnik 1 launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb).

Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes.

Monitoring of the satellite was done by many amateur radio operators and the Jodrell Bank Observatory.

Sputnik's R-7 booster had previously proven itself more than one month earlier as the world's first ICBM in the successful long-range test flight of August 21 (with the accomplishment published in Aviation Week). Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.

Watch 1957 - First Satellite in Space (Sputnik)

AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium,
Guildford July 31 - Aug 1
http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium/