The Sputnik 16 satellite was launched on October 4, 1962, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It was the first satellite to be launched by the Soviet Union since the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957. The satellite was designed to measure the Earth's
From Wikipedia
Sputnik 1, often referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for three weeks before its three silver-zinc batteries became depleted. Aerodynamic drag caused it to fall back into the atmosphere on 4 January 1958.