Launch of Sputnik 1 (1957)

Hello. My name is Sergei Korolev. Ever since I was a little boy, I loved to look up at the night sky. I would see the moon and all the twinkling stars and I had a big, big dream. I wanted to send something from our world all the way up into space. My friends and I worked together for a long, long time. It was a big secret. We were building a giant rocket, taller than any building I had ever seen. And we built a special, shiny metal ball to go with it. We hoped our ball could fly among the stars.

Finally, the big day came. It was October 4th, 1957. Everyone was so excited but also a little nervous. Our giant rocket stood on the ground, pointing right at the sky. It was taller than the biggest house you can imagine. Inside, our little shiny ball, which we named Sputnik, was waiting for its big adventure. We all stood far away and counted down. Five, four, three, two, one. WHOOSH. The engines made a super loud noise. The ground started to shake and rumble under my feet. Orange fire came out of the bottom of the rocket as it slowly started to lift off the ground, going up, up, up into the big blue sky.

We all listened very carefully on a special radio. And then we heard it. Beep-beep. Beep-beep. It was our little Sputnik, singing to us from space. It was flying high above the whole world. It was like we had made a brand new star, a star that could sing. Our little beeping ball showed everyone that our dreams could come true. It showed us that space was not so far away after all. So whenever you look up at the stars, remember my little Sputnik and dream big dreams of your own. I passed away a long time ago, but my dream lives on every time someone looks to the stars.