Sputnik 1
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
Turn it in 3D
Open the 3D viewer (www.spaceradar.ai).
The viewer loads when you ask: about 700 kB the first time (three.js and the model), much less after.
Pictures 4
Three-quarter view
From the side
From behind
From above
About this model
Sputnik 1 is one of the 203 3D models Space Radar made itself: a satellite, built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh.
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified. It has 3,032 triangles in a 25 kB glTF file, and is 29 m across at full scale.
It is part of the map’s library; no object on the live map is drawn with it today.
Dimensions and their sources
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Sphere diameter | 0.585 m |
| Whip long | 2.9 m |
| Whip short | 2.4 m |
| Fairing height | 0.8 m |
| Rocket length | 29.167 m |
Wikipedia, Sputnik 1 (read 2026-11-03), from NASA and the Russian sources it cites: sphere 585 mm, whips 2.4 m and 2.9 m, fairing 80 cm high, the 8K71PS 29.167 m long with PS-1; the head's 1.95 m is ours
How it was made
Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from published dimensions.
The full record
built by this project in code (scripts/sputnik/build-sputnik.mjs, release 1.7.0): no agency or museum 3D model of PS-1 under a free licence was found (read 2026-11-03): NASA 3D Resources has nothing of Sputnik; Wikimedia Commons has photographs of the full-size copies and no 3D file. The numbers are published: Wikipedia, Sputnik 1 (read 2026-11-03), from NASA, NSSDC and the Russian sources it cites, gives the sphere as 585 mm in two hemispheres of 2 mm, sealed with O-rings and held by 36 bolts, 83.6 kg, two pairs of whip antennas of 2.4 m and 2.9 m, a cone-shaped payload fairing 80 cm high, the rocket 29.167 m long with PS-1
Where the map uses it. NOTHING YET, as a route on the map: no object of the map is Sputnik 1 (it fell in January 1958). It is the satellite of the Sputnik 1 Moment (release 1.7.0, internal #1058): the moments engine loads it by id twice, once riding the head of the 8K71PS rocket and once as the satellite on its own orbit, and parts it in three: the head (the cone-shaped fairing), the sphere and the four whips. Origin: the whips' lowest tip on the axis, +Y toward the front pole; the head's base stands at y = 1.6555 and is set on the top of the launcher's core, at `stations.sputnik-1` of the row `r7-8k72k`
Licence note. The shape is this project's, under this repository's licence, built from published numbers (facts). No picture was copied, traced or projected, and no published mesh was used
References 2
What the shape was compared with. None of these pictures is in the file.
- Sputnik 1, WikipediaWikipedia contributors, from NASA, NSSDC and the Russian sources it citesCC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikipedia's text); the numbers are facts
- Sputnik 1, NSSDCA Master CatalogNASA NSSDCAPublic domain (NASA)
Use it
The model is under the MIT licence: use it, change it and share it, in any project, also a paid one. Keep the credit:
Sputnik 1 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT LicenseAny glTF 2.0 loader that reads meshopt compression (EXT_meshopt_compression) opens the file: three.js with its MeshoptDecoder, Babylon.js, model-viewer. Tools such as glTF-Transform can write an uncompressed copy.
Or embed the viewer in your page:
<iframe src="https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=sputnik-1" title="Sputnik 1, 3D model by Space Radar" width="600" height="450" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%"></iframe>Related models
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