Editing Spacecraft (section)

== History ==
{{see also|History of spaceflight}}
[[File:Sputnik asm.jpg|thumb|The first artificial satellite, [[Sputnik 1]], launched by the [[Soviet Union]]]]

A German [[V-2]] became the first spacecraft when it reached an altitude of 189&nbsp;km in June 1944 in [[Peenemünde]], Germany.<ref>''Peenemünde (Dokumentation)'' Berlin: Moewig, 1984.{{ISBN|3-8118-4341-9}}.</ref> [[Sputnik 1]] was the first [[artificial satellite]]. It was launched into an elliptical [[low Earth orbit]] (LEO) by the [[Soviet Union]] on 4 October 1957. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments;  while the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the [[Space Age]].<ref name="nasa-sputnik-60">{{cite web |editor-last1=Garcia |editor-first1=Mark |title=60 years ago, the Space Age began |url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/60-years-ago-the-space-age-began |publisher=[[NASA]] |access-date=1 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122182320/http://www.nasa.gov/feature/60-years-ago-the-space-age-began/ |archive-date=22 January 2023 |date=4 October 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=This New Ocean, A History of Project Mercury|quote=On October 4, 1957 Sputnik I shot into orbit and forcibly opened the Space Age.|last1=Swenson|first1=L. Jr.|last2=Grimwood|first2=J. M.|last3=Alexander|first3=C. C.|pages=66–62424}}</ref> Apart from its value as a technological first, Sputnik 1 also helped to identify the upper [[Earth's atmosphere#Temperature|atmospheric layer]]'s density, by measuring the satellite's orbital changes. It also provided data on [[radio]]-signal distribution in the [[ionosphere]]. Pressurized [[nitrogen]] in the satellite's false body provided the first opportunity for [[meteoroid]] detection. Sputnik 1 was launched during the [[International Geophysical Year]] from [[Gagarin's Start|Site No.1/5]], at the 5th [[Tyuratam]] range, in [[Kazakh SSR]] (now at the [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]]). The satellite travelled at {{convert|29,000|kph}}, taking 96.2 minutes to complete an orbit, and emitted radio signals at 20.005 and 40.002&nbsp;[[MHz]]

While Sputnik 1 was the first spacecraft to orbit the Earth, other human-made objects had previously reached an altitude of 100&nbsp;km, which is the height required by the international organization [[Fédération Aéronautique Internationale]] to count as a spaceflight. This altitude is called the [[Kármán line]]. In particular, in the 1940s there were [[List of V-2 test launches|several test launches]] of the [[V-2 rocket]], some of which reached altitudes well over 100&nbsp;km.