the world's first artificial satellite, the sputnik 1, was launched by the soviet union on october 4,1957. this surprised the world, and the united states quickly worked to launch their own satellite, starting the space race. sputnik 2 was launched on november 3, 1957 and carried the first living passenger into orbit, a dog named laika. the united states launched their first satellite, called "explorer 1" on january 31, 1958. the uk launched its first satellite in 1962.