The names of some man-made satellites are Sputnik 1, Explorer 1, the International Space Station, ORBCOMM FM-107, Gonets-19 and SES-8. In 1957, Russia launched the first man-made satellite called Sputnik 1, and the United States sent Explorer 1 into orbit in 1958. Since that time, over 6,500 satellites have been launched into space by different nations.
As of 2014, there are about 1,000 operational satellites in space, while nearly 2,600 are non-functional and are space debris. There are different types of satellites, such as fixed point, mobile and scientific research satellites. These satellites can orbit at different altitudes. For example, communications satellites, which are fixed point types, orbit Earth at about 22,000 miles.
