Satellite

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Revision as of 10:56, 9 July 2007 by imported>Carl Jantzen (Deleted a lot of stuff. I just wanted to include a basic definition for a relatively important topic.)
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In the context of spaceflight, satellites are objects which have been placed into orbit by human endeavor. They are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon.

History

The first artificial satellite was Sputnik 1, launched by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. This triggered the Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States.