Sputnik crisis

The Sputnik crisis was a period of public fear and anxiety in <a href="/facts/Western_Bloc/RS9Ev5RJ">Western nations</a> about the perceived technological gap between the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> and <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a> caused by the Soviets' launch of <a href="/facts/Sputnik_1/GQ5KLlNC">Sputnik 1</a>, the world's first <a href="/facts/Artificial_satellite/PTX8c68t">artificial satellite</a>. The crisis was a significant event in the <a href="/facts/Cold_War/spJdJQ3q">Cold War</a> that triggered the <a href="/facts/Creation_of_NASA/kjUsIwWU">creation of NASA</a> and the <a href="/facts/Space_Race/9fPV4LUq">Space Race</a> between the two superpowers. The satellite was launched on October 4, 1957, from the <a href="/facts/Baikonur_Cosmodrome/sk16LwcH">Baikonur Cosmodrome</a>. This created a crisis reaction in national newspapers such as <a href="/facts/The_New_York_Times/T9marWVX">The New York Times</a>, which mentioned the satellite in 279 articles between October 6, 1957, and October 31, 1957 (more than 11 articles per day).

Sputnik crisis open-in-new

Sputnik crisis