7. History This is Sputnik. It was a 58cm 83 kg aluminum ball launched into earth orbit from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on an R-7/Semiorka rocket by the USSR on October 4, 1957 It contained A battery A thermometer A radio transmitter Sputnik was filled with pressurized nitrogen gas, had 4 antennas which sent information back via short-wave frequency and only lasted 92 days in space.