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Now that the space age has reached middle age, Leo Enright reflects on satellites that have changed history since Sputnik 1 first beeped at us from 1,000km.

Seeing the Earth from outside forever changed the human psyche, whether from the first orbiting weather satellite or the surface of the Moon. And images from space – the first TV satellite pictures from Telstar and the earliest scientific observations from above the clouds – have made the world feel a smaller place; perhaps uncomfortably small when you think that many of the 9,000 orbiters currently up there are spy satellites.

Leo charts the rise and rise of the satellites and asks whether they should forever remain the domain of orbiting robots when the view from space is so spectacular, and holidays in space are very much on the cards.