Launch of Sputnik 1 (1957)

Hello. My name is Sergei Korolev, and when I was a boy, I used to look up at the night sky and dream of flying. I didn't just want to fly in an airplane. I wanted to fly higher than the clouds, all the way up to where the stars sparkle. When I grew up, I became the Chief Designer for my country’s space program. It was a very important job. My country, the Soviet Union, and another country called the United States were in a friendly race. We weren't running or driving cars. It was a race to see who could be the first to send something into space, that big, dark, wonderful place far above our heads. We all wanted to be the first to explore it, and my dream of reaching for the stars was about to come true.

My team and I worked together day and night in a giant workshop. We were building something that had never been built before: the very first satellite. I liked to call it our 'little metal moon.' It was a shiny, silver ball, not much bigger than a beach ball you might play with. It had four long, thin legs sticking out from its sides, which were actually antennas. I thought they looked just like a cat's whiskers. These antennas were so important because they would send signals back down to us on Earth. Finally, the big day arrived on October 4th, 1957. My heart was beating like a drum with excitement and a little bit of worry. We stood a safe distance away and watched our giant R-7 rocket standing on the launch pad, with our little Sputnik tucked safely in its nose. The countdown started, and then, a huge rumbling sound shook the ground. Fire and smoke pushed the rocket up, up, up into the sky. It was amazing. I held my breath as it soared higher, getting smaller and smaller until it looked like a new star in the night.

After the rocket disappeared from sight, we all rushed into a big room filled with radios. Everyone was quiet as we waited and listened. Had our little moon made it all the way? Was it working? Then, through the speakers, we heard a tiny, faint sound. 'Beep… beep… beep…'. It was the most beautiful sound in the world. Our satellite was flying high above the Earth, circling it just like the real moon does. That little beep was a message to everyone on the planet. It said, 'Hello. We are in space.'. That day, our shiny little ball started something amazing called the Space Age. It showed everyone that we could explore the universe beyond our world. My dream of reaching for the stars had come true, and it was just the beginning of a great adventure. It showed that when you dream big and work hard with your team, you can do incredible things.