1957–1969: Opening the Space Age
Sputnik 3 (Object D)
First large Soviet scientific satellite; carried 12 instruments for upper-atmosphere, magnetic-field, radiation and cosmic-dust studies. Tape-recorder failure limited radiation-belt data.
Era 1 of 6 · full record in the catalog
- Launch
- year known only: 1958
- Lead / partner
- Soviet Union
- Target
- Earth orbit
- Category
- Upper-atmosphere / space physics
- Status
- Partial success
- Vehicle
- Sputnik-PS 8K71PS
- Mass
- unknown
- Orbit / trajectory
- Geocentric
- Duration
- 162 days
Why it happened
Sputnik 3 (Object D) flew during 1957–1969: Opening the Space Age, as part of Soviet Union's work toward earth orbit. A sourced write-up of the context around this mission is still on the editorial queue; nothing here is invented to fill the gap.
The mission
The full narrative of this mission is pending research and writing. What is recorded so far: First large Soviet scientific satellite; carried 12 instruments for upper-atmosphere, magnetic-field, radiation and cosmic-dust studies. Tape-recorder failure limited radiation-belt data.
Results
First large Soviet scientific satellite; carried 12 instruments for upper-atmosphere, magnetic-field, radiation and cosmic-dust studies. Tape-recorder failure limited radiation-belt data.
Related missions
Sources & image credits
- Stolbovsky, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0 · license: cc-by-4.0 (source, checked 2026-08-23)
- Mission record: AntarikshPedia canonical dataset (data-sources/missions_timeline.md)
- Specifications reference: NASA NSSDCA Master Catalog
