Sputnik
NASA Main Page Multimedia Interactive Feature on 50th Anniversary of the Space Age
Sputnik and The Dawn of the Space Age
History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched         Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of         a beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in diameter), weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit         the Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political,         military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik         launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the         U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.
 The story begins in 1952, when the International Council of Scientific    Unions decided to establish July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958, as the International    Geophysical Year (IGY) because the scientists knew that the cycles    of solar activity would be at a high point then. In October 1954, the council    adopted a resolution calling for artificial satellites to be launched during    the IGY to map the Earth's surface. 
In July 1955, the White House announced plans to launch an Earth-orbiting satellite for the IGY and solicited proposals    from various Government research agencies to undertake development. In    September 1955, the Naval Research Laboratory's Vanguard proposal was chosen to represent the U.S. during the IGY. 
The Sputnik launch changed everything. As a technical achievement, Sputnik    caught the world's attention and the American public off-guard. Its size    was more impressive than Vanguard's intended 3.5-pound payload. In addition,    the public feared that the Soviets' ability to launch satellites also translated    into the capability to launch ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons from Europe to the U.S. Then the Soviets struck again; on November    3, Sputnik II was launched, carrying a much heavier payload, including    a dog named Laika. 
Immediately after the Sputnik I launch in October, the U.S. Defense    Department responded to the political furor by approving funding for another    U.S. satellite project. As a simultaneous alternative to Vanguard, Wernher    von Braun and his Army Redstone Arsenal team began work on the Explorer project. 
On January 31, 1958, the tide changed, when the United States successfully    launched Explorer I. This satellite carried a small scientific payload    that eventually discovered the magnetic radiation belts around the Earth,    named after principal investigator James Van Allen. The Explorer program    continued as a successful ongoing series of lightweight, scientifically    useful spacecraft.
 The Sputnik launch also led directly to the creation of National    Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In July 1958, Congress passed    the National    Aeronautics and Space Act (commonly called the "Space Act") , which    created NASA as of October 1, 1958 from the National Advisory Committee    for Aeronautics (NACA) and other government agencies. 
Updated October 10, 2007