Infotix -- A Technology notepad

On October 4, 1957, the world's first man-made satellite zipped across the sky. Russia's 183-pound probe circled the Earth every 98 minutes, invisible to the naked eye, broadcasting it's rhythmic beeping to anyone with the equipment to listen.
Sputnik's launch 50 years ago marked the dawn of the space age, and the starting gun of a race to the stars between the United States and Russia.