# Did Sputnik 1 have attitude control? - Tags: artificial-satellite, history, attitude, sputnik - Score: 22 - Views: 3,452 - Answers: 2 - Asked by: user (7,420 rep) - Asked on: Oct 14, 2016 - Last active: Feb 21, 2018 - License: CC BY-SA 3.0 --- ## Question The (currently only) answer to [Why did Sputnik 1 have four antennas?](https://space.stackexchange.com/q/18622/415) discusses how Sputnik 1 had four antennas in order to ensure that the Earth would never be in the null of any of its antennas. PearsonArtPhoto's answer specifically states that > \[Sputnik\] was set up before we had an understanding of how difficult it would be to maintain a satellite's position, and in fact was a very simple system overall. This would seem to beg the question, **did Sputnik 1 have any attitude control at all?** (By means of thrusters or otherwise.) Or was it simply tumbling along in its orbit in whatever attitude and roll rates it happened to end up in after booster separation? --- ## Accepted Answer — Score: 22 - By: Justin Eiler (559 rep) - Answered on: Oct 14, 2016 Sputnik-1, and Sputnik-2, had no attitude control whatsoever, and would have tumbled freely. "\[Like\] its predecessor,