Crash site of Korabl-Sputnik 1 — Attraction in Manitowoc

I was in high school, in 1962, when this piece of a Russian satellite crashed into 8th Street in Manitowoc. The cops thought it was a piece of foundry slag, it was too hot to touch. They kicked it to the curb. After the significance of the event sank into the city's head, it became a big thing for a while. The original piece was given back to the Russians. Two replicas were cast before the thing was returned . The Republican party got one and the Democrats the other. Neither party really wanted it. So one of the replicas ended up in the Rahr West Museum There is a brass ring in the middle of 8th Street where the chunk landed and a stone marker on the curb. If you want to see the ring you'd better be quick and alert, as 8th Street is a major thoroughfare. Not much to see; but an interesting bit of local history. The Rahr West Museum is definitely worth an...

This is an amazing part of world history: this is not the original Sputnik. The first Sputnik was never intended to return (and unfortunately, neither was Sputnik 2... RIP Laika). This was the first Sputnik in what would be known in the Soviet Union as Project Vostok, with the goal of putting the first man in space. Soviet scientists were trying to figure out how to get the spacecraft to come BACK - and it did, right in the middle of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Soviet scientists were able to learn enough from the launch to put Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova in space only two years later. Definitely worth...

Weird that they don't have a proper sign for this. It is literally in the middle of the street. Okay, I get it, nobody controlled where it landed but the only indication that you are in the right location is a plaque on the sidewalk. Fine if you are walking but if driving you drive right by it. And go down a block and circle around and drive by it again. Would it hurt to put up one of those tourist attraction signs on the sidewalk, where the plaque is? They can't be...