Inventors: U.S.S.R. – Sergey P. Korolev and others

Sputnik, Russian for “fellow traveler of earth”, was launched by the U.S.S.R. on October 4^th, 1957. This small, 184 pound ball shocked the world as its constant “beep beep beep” was heard on 20 and 40MHz. Traveling at about 18,000 miles per hour, it orbited the earth once every 92 minutes.
On November 3^rd, 1957, Sputnik II was launched, this time carrying a dog named Laika. This encouraged the U.S. to launch its own satellite.
Sputnik dwarfed the satellite that the U.S. had been planning to launch, which was about the size of a grapefruit. When it finally was launched, the rocket exploded, and became known to some as “Kaputnik”. (Here Comes…, 2003)
The launching of Sputnik had major impacts on America. For the first time it seemed like the United States was no longer the top technological country in the world. Here is a quote form Lyndon Johnson while he was the Democratic Senate Majority Leader: "The Roman empire controlled the world because it could build roads. Later, when men moved to sea, the British Empire was dominant because it had ships. Now the communists have established a foothold in outer space. It is not very reassuring to be told that next year we will put a 'better' satellite into the air. Perhaps it will even have chrome trim and automatic windshield wipers." (Trumbore, 2003)
President Eisenhower was not as worried about Sputnik as much as the American public was. This was partially due to the fact that he had access to secret information from spy planes which he could not reveal. This lead to the following poem written by G. Mennen Williams who was at that time the Democratic governor of Michigan:
 

“Oh little Sputnik, flying high
With made-in-Moscow beep,
You tell the world it's a Commie sky
and Uncle Sam's asleep.
You say on fairway and on rough
The Kremlin knows it all,
We hope our golfer knows enough
To get us on the ball.” (Launius, 2003)

Sputnik caused many changes in America. It started the “space race” between the USSR and the US, as well as creating fears of atomic bombs carried by rockets. Due to the somewhat imagined “missile gap” more emphasis was placed on education, especially in the areas of science and engineering. It is amazing how the launching of this small 184 pound satellite was one of the most major events in the Cold War. (see Also Communications Satellite.)

*Picture from http://www.aip.org/history/syllabi/postwar.htm

Sources:
Here Comes Sputnik! 14 Oct. 2003. <http://www.batnet.com/mfwright/sputnik.html>

Launius, Roger D. Sputnik and the Dawn of the Space Age. 14 Oct. 2003. <http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsatellite.htm>

Launius, Roger D. Sputnik and the Origins of the Space Age. 14 Oct. 2003. <http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/sputorig.html>

Science after World War II. 12 Oct 2003. <http://www.aip.org/history/syllabi/postwar.htm>

Trumbore, Brian. Sputnik, 1957. 14 Oct. 2003. <http://www.buyandhold.com/bh/en/education/history/2000/sputnik_1957.html>

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