Those Crazy Russians

Sputnik I launched today.  I mean today in 1957, obviously.  I just thought I'd mention it, because no one else seems to have, and that surprises me a bit.  After all, it was a pretty big deal; first man-made object in space, start of the space race, contribution to rising cold-war tensions and all that.  Given that today has been a pretty slow news day* I thought someone might have picked up on it.

That's a picture.  It's a lot smaller (the size of a beach-ball, not counting those pointy bits) and faster than I realised; it took about an hour and a half to orbit the earth which, when you think about the maths, is crazy fast.

*So far.  If something really really important** turns out to have happened today, and you are reading this post with that knowledge, please assume it hasn't happened yet.

** Really important (in this context)  = more important than public outrage over choice of X-factor finalists, nasty tube-strike, and child-benefit cuts. Just to set some parameters.