Basically Soviet artificial satellite to be placed in orbit. :)
The Muckrakers were a group of journalists, who would 'rake up the muck' of the slums of america, or other areas, and try to expose it. An example of a muckraker is "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair Jr, where the meat packaging industry is revealed to be extremely unsanitary and lurid.
It looks like it ended somewhere in Italy so I would say Venice
