Talk:Unmanned spaceflight

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Dubious[edit]

Dubious part:

"Unmanned space missions are those using remote-controlled spacecraft. The first unmanned space mission was Sputnik I, launched October 4, 1957 to orbit the Earth."

Does the term "unmanned space mission" really imply a (remote-controlled) orbital spaceflight? Because if it doesn't imply all that, then suborbital spaceflights (and "fire-and-forget" spaceflights) also count, and that would mean that the claim about Sputnik here is wrong. Sputnik certainly was the first artificial satellite and the first orbital spaceflight, but it was not the first spaceflight. The first man-made craft to cross the Karman line and enter space on a suborbital trajectory was a V-2 launched from Peenemünde in 1944, as the relevant other Wikipedia articles also mention. 31.18.251.154 (talk) 23:47, 13 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]