That single act by the Soviet Union changed the world forever. Sputnik was the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. It was not like one might imagine. This satellite was not big and amazing, in fact it was rather small. It was 22.8 inches in diameter and weighed 183.9 pounds.
The world, especially the United States, started to panic. Were the Russian's going to attack from outer space? How did they come to have such technology? What would this mean for the future?
The United States reacted immediately. For the years following World War II America had been the leading nation technologically and everyone rested assured that they would not be surpassed anytime soon. In fact in 1955 the United States had already started plans on launching their own satellite into space. After the launch of Sputnik the miniscule space program the United States had started grew drastically along with its funding.
Now the race was on. The race for space.
Sputnik in the making.
No comments:
Post a Comment