Did you know there's a Sputnik replica in orbit?

[plutherus]

I don't know if it's still up there, it was launched about six years ago, from Mir. They opened the airlock and pushed it out. Hell of a cool way to put a satellite into orbit, if you ask me.

It's one-third scale of the original, and the electronics inside were made by Russian and French school children. "A binational science-rair project". Cool project.

http://www.lubbockonline.com/news/080497/stungby.htm