On October 4, 1957, at the height of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, the Soviets launched Sputnik, the first man-made satellite, into orbit around the Earth.
People the world over speak of the ‘Space Age' as beginning with the launching of the Russian Sputnik on 4 October 1957.
After World War II, the Space Race was one component of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States...
Based on recently declassified documents from the Soviet Union and the United States, this National Geographic television special (from 2006) adds new insight into why the two superpowers were racing into space.
"It's difficult to recapture the sense of paranoia and self-doubt that Sputnik created in the U.S., but The New York Times' coverage of that week helps a bit."
Don Mitchell is a retired research scientist with an interest in Soviet spacecraft. In honor of Sputnik's fiftieth anniversary, Mitchell created a site about the early days of the Soviet space program.
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