Sputnik Changes Everything

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite. It was a polished metal sphere the size of a beach ball that did nothing but beep. But that beep terrified the United States. If the Soviets could put an object in orbit, they could aim a nuclear warhead at any city on Earth.

The US responded by creating NASA in 1958 and pouring resources into rocketry and space science. The Soviets kept the lead: first animal in orbit (Laika, 1957), first human in space (Yuri Gagarin, April 1961), first woman in space (Valentina Tereshkova, 1963).