when did sputnik 2 come back to earth
Sputnik 2 Sputnik 2 reentered the Earth's atmosphere 14 April 1958, at approximately 0200 hrs, on a line that stretched from New York to the Amazon. Its track was plotted by British ships and 3 “Moon Watch Observations”, from New York. It was said to be glowing and did not develop a tail until it was at latitudes south of 20 degrees North. Estimates put the average length of the tail at about 50 nautical miles. The satellite burned up in the atmosphere.[22]
Satellite In 1957 the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1. Since then, about 6,600 satellites from more than 40 countries have been launched. According to a 2013 estimate, 3,600 remained in orbit.[1] Of those, about 1,000 were operational;[2] while the rest have lived out their useful lives and become space debris. Approximately 500 operational satellites are in low-Earth orbit, 50 are in medium-Earth orbit (at 20,000 km), and the rest are in geostationary orbit (at 36,000 km).[3] A few large satellites have been launched in parts and assembled in orbit. Over a dozen space probes have been placed into orbit around other bodies and become artificial satellites to the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, a few asteroids,[4] a comet and the Sun.