Korabl-Sputnik 1, also known as Sputnik 4 in the West, was the first test flight of the Soviet Vostok programme, and the first Vostok spacecraft. It was launched on May 15, 1960. Though Korabl-Sputnik 1 was unmanned, it was a precursor to the first human spaceflight, Vostok 1. Its mass was 4,540 kilograms, of which 1,477 kilograms was instrumentation. A bug in the guidance system had pointed the capsule in the wrong direction, so instead of dropping into the atmosphere the satellite moved into a higher orbit. The descent module re-entered the atmosphere on September 6, 1962. A 20 pound piece, still warm, was found in the middle of North 8th Street by two city police officers in Manitowoc, Wisconsin in the northern United States. An annual commemoration, "Sputnikfest", is now held near the same date each year at the Rahr-West Museum, located within a few dozen feet of the impact site.
This spacecraft, the first of a series of spacecraft used to investigate the means for manned space flight, contained scientific instruments, a television system, and a self-sustaining biological cabin with a dummy of a man.