Sputnik was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. This was followed by the Space race. The second of January 1959 the Soviet Union successfully launched the Luna 1 satellite from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Luna 1 would become the first man-made object to escape the pull of the Earth's gravity and the first man-made object to orbit the Sun. This plate is to commemorate the event.