SATELLITE On 4 October 1957 the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1 . Since then, about 8,900 satellites from more than 40 countries have been launched. There are over 2,500 satellites in orbit around the Earth. India has created history by launching a record 104 satellites on a single mission. The speed a satellite must travel to stay in space is called its orbital velocity. It usually needs to be more than 17,500 mph (28,200 km/h). There are nine different types of satellites i.e. Communications Satellite , Remote Sensing Satellite , Navigation Satellite , LEO, MEO, HEO, GPS, GEOs, Drone Satellite , Ground Satellite , Polar Satellite .