Sputnik’s beep, Gagarin’s orbit, a boot on lunar dust: how humanity left the cradle — and saw its home, whole, for the first time.
It began with a beep. On October 4, 1957, a polished metal ball the size of a beach ball rose over the horizon, circling Earth every 98 minutes, radioing a steady pulse to a stunned planet. Twelve years later, a boot pressed into lunar dust. Between those moments, humanity left the cradle.
