Rank 21 documents Sputnik 3 — the Soviet Union's first dedicated scientific satellite and the heaviest object placed in orbit during the Space Race's opening act. Launched 15 May 1958 aboard the R-7 from Baikonur, Sergei Korolev's OKB-1 team delivered a 1,327-kilogramne cone-cylinder laboratory carrying twelve scientific instruments including magnetometers, spectrometers, and cosmic-ray detectors into a 217 × 1,864 kilometre elliptical orbit. Where Sputnik 1 announced presence with a radio beep, Sputnik 3 announced intent — a precursor science platform that mapped Earth's radiation belts, magnetic field, and upper atmosphere before Explorer 1's Van Allen discovery made headlines in the West. The instrument booms and tapered nose cone defined Soviet early-space engineering aesthetics for every subsequent scientific bus Lavochkin and OKB-1 would build. Wallimilist renders the cone-cylinder hero, dashed orbital ring, horizontal-band cream archive with SPUTNIK 3 slab title, MAJOR SCIENTIFIC SATELLITE kicker, and CONE-CYLINDER LABORATORY WITH INSTRUMENT BOOMS footer exactly as the master PNG dictates — OKB-1 and Sputnik Program emblems, specimen data bands, and curator copy on geophysical laboratory heritage.