4th October 2007 marks the 50th Anniversary of the launch of Sputnik I. Launched by the Soviets on 4th October 1957,it was the first satellite to orbit Earth. People everywhere tuned into their radios to hear it send its beeping signal as it orbited Earth for 23 days. The launch sparked off a space race. The USA followed the Russian act, putting the Explorer into orbit on January 31, 1958. Russia commemorated the 50th anniversary of the historic occasion with headlines like’ We were first’. Soviet space program veteterans laid flowers near the grave of the Sputnik’s creator Sergei Korolyov, while President Putin sent congratulatory messages to Russian space scientists.