>>12229994Designs of the first satellites started in 1954 and were on scientists heads in realistic means probably around 1950 and was launched in 1957. Realistically this could have only happened around 15 years earlier in USA and maybe 5-10 in soviet
union.So the earliest so give earliest launch dates at around 1947 or so.
Pre war none of the major powers had the industrial capacity to spare for space even though the feat would have technically most likely been possible earlier. In some kind of alt history where germany wins WW1 and makes significant land gains and rides high with that investing into science and heavy industry then by 1930's we might have seen the first satellites. Perhaps more realistic alt history would have been an US space program in 1942 as part of some military project to gain an edge in the war as opposed to manhattan project but even then it would be highly unlikely to happen since the military prospects of space just weren't there in the short term.
Technically you could make a rocket put something into space much earlier, like 1880's early but the industrial capacity just wasn't there and many fundamental researches in material sciences were still lacking and since there were no radios at the time the usefulness of shooting a big rocket to space would be pretty much none but it could be done on a theoretical basis.
