Starship Asterisk*

Very informative, and appropriate, postings neufer. Thank you.

Apparently you need to be in orbit to be a satellite. It is possible to launch an object steeply to great altitude without attaining orbit. What goes up (1) must come down unless it (2) goes up fast enough to escape or (3) goes up fast enough at a flat enough angle to achieve orbit. Thank you for t...

Why would Sputnik be considered the first artificial satellite if the upper stage of the Bumper V2 "was able to reach then-record altitudes of almost 400 kilometers, higher than even modern Space Shuttles fly today."?