when was Sputnik 1 built?

Question

what i mean is when did they decide to build it and how long did it take?

Answer 1

Sputnik was built for the international Geophysical year so I assume it was originally designed in 1955 or 1956. The first sputnik flew in 1957 when I was in third grade. The Soviet Union had originally intended to send up a much larger satellite but to beat the Americans they sent up a smaller payload in a lower orbit than originally intended.