The sky at the moment of the launch of Sputnik 1

Sputnik’s launch chart

Site 1, Baikonur (Tyuratam), Kazakhstan · 5 October 1957 · 00:28

Tropical zodiac, Placidus houses

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Sputnik’s reading
Sputnik’s reading

Three in Libra, below the horizon

5 October 1957 · 12:28 am · Site 1, Baikonur (Tyuratam), Kazakhstan

☉ Libra · ☽ Aquarius · ↑ Cancer

Sputnik 1 lifted off from Site 1 at Baikonur (Tyuratam), Kazakhstan, at 19:28:34 UTC on 4 October 1957. At the pad the clock read 00:28, already 5 October, and the night sky around it holds a Libra Sun, an Aquarius Moon and Cancer rising. Mars and Jupiter are in Libra with the Sun, and Uranus sits in the 1st house.

At Sputnik's launch the Sun sat in Libra in the 4th house, beneath the ground, because it was just past midnight at Baikonur. It lies about two degrees from the very lowest point of the sky, opposite the Midheaven, with Jupiter less than a degree away and Mars in Libra too. The 4th house is about foundations and where things start, and Libra is the sign of design, proportion and balance. A Sun at the root of the chart suits a beginning.

Uranus, the planet of invention and sudden change, sat in Leo in the 1st house of the Sputnik chart. It's well connected: a sextile to the Sun half a degree from exact, a sextile to Jupiter, and trines to Saturn in Sagittarius and to the Midheaven in Aries. Leo lends it confidence and a sense of occasion. Uranus here reads as a bright, original streak written into the chart's opening house.

The Moon was at 26° Aquarius in the 8th house at this launch, in the sign most tied to the future, science and shared ideas. Cancer was rising at 28°, its final degrees, with Mercury in Virgo making a sextile to the rising degree. Further out, Neptune in Scorpio and Pluto in Virgo sat a tenth of a degree from an exact sextile, a slow, steady link between the two.

WaterAirEarthFire
Air45%

Air moves between people: ideas, conversation and the curiosity that connects one thing to another.

It blows strongest of the four here, so you understand the world by talking it through.

It shows in who you are at your centre, what you need to feel at home, how you go after things and where luck and growth come easily.

☉Sun in Libra☽Moon in Aquarius♂Mars in Libra♃Jupiter in Libra
Sputnik’s elements

Mostly air, with water next

Tap an element in the picture or on the bar to see which planets feed it. The Sun, Moon and rising sign count extra.

♅1♇2☿♂3☉♃♆4♀♄567☽89101112AC
House 4 · Libra

Roots

home · ancestry · inner foundation☉ ♃ ♆

Sun, Jupiter and Neptune sit here.

Sputnik’s houses

The planets gather below the horizon

A wintergreen, or teaberry: each leaf is one of twelve houses, a part of life, and each berry is a planet. Hover or tap a leaf or berry to see what’s there, or tap a pattern to light up its leaves.

Sputnik’s crystal

Clear Quartz

An air stone · clarity, focus, amplification

The all-purpose amplifier — it sharpens intention and pairs well with any other stone.

Clear quartz is silicon dioxide in its purest form, one of the most common minerals in the Earth’s crust. Large, water-clear crystals come from Brazil, Madagascar, the Alps and the hills around Hot Springs, Arkansas. The ancient Greeks believed it was ice frozen so hard it could never thaw, and the word crystal comes from their name for it.

Clear quartz is hard enough to carry loose, though it will scratch softer stones it shares a bag with. Keep spheres out of direct sunlight, since a clear ball can focus the sun and scorch whatever sits behind it.

Gift Clear Quartzat Paradise Found

Where the time comes from

When
4 October 1957, 19:28:34 UTC
Where
Site 1, Baikonur (Tyuratam), Kazakhstan
Time from
RussianSpaceWeb (Anatoly Zak): Sputnik “lifted off into the night sky over Kazakhstan on October 4, 1957, at 22:28:34 Moscow Time.” Source
Note
That was 19:28:34 UTC. At the launch site itself it was already 5 October.

Questions

What time did the launch of Sputnik 1 happen?

At 22:28:34 Moscow Time on 4 October 1957, according to RussianSpaceWeb, which is 19:28:34 UTC. At the launch site in Kazakhstan it was already 00:28 on 5 October.

What sign was the Sun in at the launch of Sputnik 1?

Libra, at 11°, in the 4th house and less than a degree from Jupiter. The Moon was in Aquarius, and Cancer was rising.

Why is the Sun at the bottom of Sputnik's chart?

Because it was night at the pad. The source says Sputnik lifted off into the night sky, and at 00:28 local time the Sun was below the horizon, close to the lowest point of the sky, in the 4th house.

More famous moments

Pluto Garden

What did the sky look like when you arrived?

This is Sputnik’s sky. Yours is different: enter your birthday to stand inside it and see what it says about you.

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Planet by planet

Where each planet stood at that moment, and what it stands for. Tap one to find it in the sky.

The twelve houses

Each house is an area of life, fixed to the horizon where you were born. A planet in a house tells you where its energy goes.

Below the horizon the private, inward houses

  1. 1Selfidentity, body, doorwayUranus in Leo
  2. 2Resourcesvalue, money, what you holdPluto in Virgo
  3. 3Voicespeech, siblings, daily mindMercury in VirgoMars in Libra
  4. 4Rootshome, ancestry, inner foundationSun in LibraJupiter in LibraNeptune in ScorpioNorth Node in Scorpio
  5. 5Playcreativity, romance, childrenVenus in ScorpioSaturn in Sagittarius
  6. 6Workroutine, service, body, craft

Above the horizon where a life turns outward

  1. 7The Otherpartnership, contracts, counterpart
  2. 8The Sharedintimacy, taboo, transformationMoon in Aquarius
  3. 9Horizonphilosophy, meaning, the long journeyLilith in Pisces
  4. 10Vocationpublic face, calling, authority
  5. 11Tribecommunity, allies, hopes for the future
  6. 12The Hiddendreams, solitude, the unconscious

The four angles

Ascendant the eastern horizon
Cancer rising28°57′ Cancer
Midheaven the top of the sky
Aries Midheaven9°18′ Aries
Descendant the western horizon
Capricorn setting28°57′ Capricorn
Imum Coeli beneath your feet
Libra IC9°18′ Libra

The chart, drawn flat

The same sky the way astrologers read it: as the traditional wheel, or as an orrery with Earth at the centre.

♈︎ARIES♉︎TAURUS♊︎GEMINI♋︎CANCER♌︎LEO♍︎VIRGO♎︎LIBRA♏︎SCORPIO♐︎SAGITTARIUS♑︎CAPRICORN♒︎AQUARIUS♓︎PISCESASCMCDSCIC☉︎11°☽︎26°☿︎27°♀︎23°♂︎6°♃︎11°♄︎9°♅︎10°♆︎1°♇︎1°☊︎12°⚸︎14°

Bright lines: the four angles where your local sky met the zodiac. Warm lines between planets: conjunctions and oppositions. Dashed: squares and sextiles. The zodiac is spaced evenly; each planet’s house is listed with it above.

☉︎Sun11°17′ LIB
☽︎Moon26°37′ AQU
☿︎Mercury27°12′ VIR
♀︎Venus23°58′ SCO
♂︎Mars6°53′ LIB
♃︎Jupiter11°57′ LIB
♄︎Saturn9°55′ SAG
♅︎Uranus10°49′ LEO
♆︎Neptune1°33′ SCO
♇︎Pluto1°26′ VIR
☊︎North Node12°03′ SCO ℞
⚸︎Lilith14°38′ PIS

Your chart as text