FILE--This first official picture of the Soviet satellite Sputnik I was issued in Moscow October 9, 1957, showing the four-antennaed satellite resting

Today in History: October 4, Soviets launch Sputnik, spark the Space Age

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2024-10-04 19:30:04

FILE--This first official picture of the Soviet satellite Sputnik I was issued in Moscow October 9, 1957, showing the four-antennaed satellite resting on a three-legged pedestal. (AP Photo)

In 1777, Gen. George Washington’s troops launched an assault on the British at Germantown, Pennsylvania, resulting in heavy American casualties.

Drillers, suspended in slins fastened with cables to the winches at the top of the mountain, work on the George Washington head of the Mount Rushmore Memorial in the Black Hills area of Keystone, S.D. on July, 22, 1929. Gutzon Borglum, sculptor, directs the carving from a projecting ledge at the left. (AP Photo)

Pope Paul VI delivers an address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Oct. 4, 1965. Seated behind him, from left are: UN Secretary General U Thant; General Assembly President Amintore Fanfani and C.V. Narasimhan, UN Undersecretary for General Assembly Affairs. (AP Photo)

In 2001, a Russian airliner flying from Israel to Siberia was accidentally downed by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile over the Black Sea, killing all 78 people aboard.