Your Sputnik memories

Posted: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 2:08 PM by Alan Boyle

NASA

CLICK FOR SLIDE SHOW
Sputnik was a small
sphere with a big impact.
Click on the image to
relive the start of the
space age in pictures.

Now I know how post-Apollo kids feel. Just as some folks were born a little too late to remember what the moon landings were like as they happened, I was too young (3 years old, if you must know) to remember the initial impact of the Sputnik launch – an event that kicked off the space age 50 years ago this week.

A fresh batch of books and a couple of new movies can give you a sense of what it was like. But the best way to get that sense of Sputnik is to hear from those of you who remember those Cold War chills and thrills. And even if you’re too young to remember Sputnik – or Apollo, for that matter – you can still share your thoughts on the past and future of space exploration.

My first space memory is of peering up into the night sky with my brothers from the backyard on our Iowa farm. We watched for the Echo 1 satellite to pass overhead, and looked forward to that futuristic day when telephone calls and TV signals could be sent routinely via space links.

Even by that time, we looked upon satellite technology as more of an opportunity than a threat – so the initial shock over Sputnik, such as it was, must have passed by that time. Instead, there was a strong push to beef up America's math and science training, and we definitely felt the benefit of that. Every one of the kids in our farm-raised family went on to science-related careers: a physicist, a biologist, a chemist, a physician and a black-sheep science journalist.

In a strange way, we were all the children of Sputnik.

As I said, I don't really remember 1957 all that well. But to get a sense of the shock and awe that people felt back then, you should look for the documentary film "Sputnik Mania," which presents footage of the launch and its aftereffects, as well as contemporary reminiscences.

It's a kick just watching the clips on the project's Web site – including the commentary for the launch footage, read with a Russian accent that would give Cold Warriors nightmares (and spark peals of laughter from Gen-Xers): "The great beast rises slowly from the earth. We are about to create a new planet that we will call Sputnik. It is small, this first satellite – but after it, we will launch others...."

Plenty of publications have come out with online packages about the space age, and I've been linking to some of them over the past few weeks. Here's a sampling:

You could fill a shelf with all the books that have been written about Sputnik and its impact, but several have come out just recently to mark the anniversary: "Red Moon Rising" by Matthew Brzezinski casts the story as a political thriller. "A Ball, a Dog and a Monkey" by Michael D'Antonio retells the tale with lively vignettes. "Epic Rivalry" by Von Hardesty and Gene Eisman recaps the space race as seen from both sides of the Iron Curtain (and features a foreword by Sergei Khrushchev, the son of Russia's Cold War leader).

George Hales / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Five-year-old Linda Chapman stands in
a costume with a Sputnik theme beside
her toy rocket during a 1958 New Year's
Eve celebration.

"In the Shadow of the Moon" and "The Wonder of It All" are two recently released documentaries that pick up the story of the early space effort just after Sputnik. If you're looking for books that trace the post-Sputnik part of the story, you can't do better than the newly published "Live From Cape Canaveral," by NBC News' Jay Barbree (who got into the space journalism game with Sputnik) and Andrew Chaikin's classic work on the Apollo space effort, "A Man on the Moon" (with a new afterword written to mark the Sputnik anniversary).

Lots of coffee-table books trace the space age in pictures, but there are several recent additions worthy of note: "After Sputnik" serves as a virtual tour of highlights from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, guided by curator Martin Collins. "Space 50," by Piers Bizony, is also published by Smithsonian Books but takes a more thematic approach to the milestones of the past 50 years and the road ahead. "America in Space" (with a foreword by alpha moonwalker Neil Armstrong) is NASA's review of its own half-century, which will be officially celebrated next year.

If you need still more suggestions for your reading list, or viewing list, check out my Apollo recommendations from July.

Now it's your turn: If you remember Sputnik, I'd love to hear your tale – maybe it will jog my memory as a 3-year-old. If you've been touched by Sputnik's legacy, I want to hear about that, too. And if you're wondering what all the fuss is about, that's a good perspective to have as well.

Do you have additional suggestions for space-age reading or watching? Send 'em along! Feel free also to reflect on the future of space exploration as well as the past. We'll have more on that part of the story tomorrow.

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Comments

My brother (8 in '57) remembers duck and cover drills in grade school though my class (3 years behind) didn't hold any. This idea of America being totally vulnerable to total annihilation was new.
My main recollection of Sputnik was Garry Moore's "I've Got A Secret" show. His guest's secret was "Every time Sputnik goes over my house, my garage door opens".

scott wilcott, marshfield, Wis (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 3:05 PM)

I was a senior in a small town high school with just two science teachers when Sputnik went up. Fortunately both teachers were good -- enthusiastic and knowledgeable -- and I had already decided I'd do something in science when I graduated. 'Course, every red-blooded American boy with an IQ larger than his waist size was also determined to do so, or at least that's my (possibly distorted) memory. :)

Listening to the recordings of Sputnik's beeps on the radio (yeah, with tubes that glowed in the dark) reinforced that decision. It was an eerie feeling to know it was up there going around the earth, particularly when 10 years earlier running outside just to see an airplane -- a DC-3 -- passing overhead was a common reaction out in the boondocks where I lived.

As things turned out I worked in aerospace for nearly 10 years, starting as a Navy technician on Polaris at the Cape during the Gemini days and ending working on the development & evaluation of the Apollo Command Module control system at Honeywell. I left aerospace and defense for a different scientific discipline not long thereafter, but still retain my interest in space and spaceflight.

I'm less entranced with manned spaceflight than unmanned, if for no other reason than we learn so much more for the money from unmanned flights like the current exploration of Mars by the various rovers. The manned space station is, in my opinion, little more than a money sink that sucks the life out of considerably more science that could be done. And the neglect of the Hubble is criminal. My guess is that in spite of the last-minute addition of a servicing flight, the flight launch date will slip until it's too late, and until the Webb is up we'll lose a big chunk of genuine science.

RBH (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 3:12 PM)

I was 12, in Pearl River, NY in 1957. We'd just read what I felt was a preposterously smug assessment by "authorities" that the US might have a satellite in space in a few years, and our cold-war adversaries, the Russians, were too incompetent to mention in the same breath. October 4, a few weeks later, gave me my very first introduction to the joys of schadenfreude as Sputnik beeped happily away. It wasn't Watergate that destroyed political credibility in this country; it was Sputnik, and the Cold War.

Dave Oshel, Cedar Rapids, IA (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 3:14 PM)

I was a sputnik kid. I remember returning to school after Christmas Vacation and the math curriculum was re-tooled from basic math to geometry and algebra. It wasn't what they did - but how they did it. The teacher tried to explain why it was important for us to learn more advanced math and science but we were in the second grade and the reasoning was mostly lost on us.

We landed on the moon in 1969 and showed the world we could set goals and accomplish them but to what end?

If there is any lesson from the cold war and the space race worth remembering it is this: A country's prestige is not measured by who gets to the moon first but rather by who is unwilling to make stupid decisions to get there.

Don Sebo, Phoenix, Arizona (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 3:47 PM)

I was 10, my brother was 6, and my sister 4yr old when we saw Sputnik flying overhead in Statesville, NC. For kids it caught our imagination like little else at the time. I eventually studied chemistry and biochemistry in college and became a medical research scientist but I never lost my interest in human or robotic exporation of outer space.

Ray (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 3:54 PM)

I was a 6 year old first grader, in Fort Worth, Texas. The only thing I can remember was Sputnik chewing gum, bright blue with spikes on it. It would probably be considered unsafe in this day and time.

Virginia Rivers, Oklahoma City, OK (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 4:00 PM)

I was a child of 7 years old and remember watching sputnik looking like a bright little star as it scooted across the sky. I also remember that it seemed to be quite an exciting event for the adults in the small town of Sinclair, WY. As a child it didn't seem threatening.

Robert"Mike" Helms, Rolling Hills, WY (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 4:03 PM)

I was about to be 13 and I learned my first Russian word: "Sputnik". Meaning I believe "Little Potato". After that all I remember is the beginnings of what would be a frantic space race ending with the US as the "victor". I couldn't figure out what the big deal was or why we didn't already have a rocket we could launch into space to put a box of electronics into orbit. All the exploding rockets on the launch pad simply amazed me. And then to move to an Atlas ICBM to get the payload up there later was embarrassing. To me that was akin to using a deuce and a half to go to the grocery store. I was proud, but confused.

David (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 4:45 PM)

I was 6 going on 7. I remember how the adults seemed to think it was a big deal. My main memory was on several occasions with a lot of the neighbors standing on the street, looking up in the sky to watch it fly over. There is so much light polution in Atlanta now that it would be impossible to do that today.

David Herron, Middleburg, FL (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 4:46 PM)

I was born in 1958, so instead of being considered a baby boomer, I guess I should be considered a part of the sat-gen.

Most people don't have the opportunity to view unobstructed space at night, but if they did, they'd probably be amazed at the number of satellites you can see on any given night. I think my highest count so far is 36 in a 3-hour period while camping in the Rockies. Of course Sputnik is long gone, but we can look forward to seeing most of today's satellites for a very long time. Views of space from our tiny little planet will always have constance reminders of man's technology and push towards the stars.

Wayne, Alamogordo, NM (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 4:59 PM)

I remember realizing that Sputnik was a weapon...didn't understand the concept at first, but my Father, who was involved with space exploration research at the time, made it clear to me.
I was ten...nothing has changed...
Earth is surrounded by a grid of defense satellites, all pointed this way.
I was ten at the time, and while other kids blathered excitedly about some Jules Verne nonsense, I worried about Leica...that one was called Muttnik, by the way...pre-political correctness...pre-alottastuff...
Anyone who denies that there is a sense of impending doom emanating from space, rather than the wondrous sense of awe mankind once felt is not being truthful with theirself.
Rocketeers, Boys and their Toys, Administering Space,...blah, blah, blah...it ain't Space Exploration...no way...no how...
DAMMIT!

steve smyth lynn ma (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 5:14 PM)

I was in 7th grade. We were stationed at Quantico, VA, while my father, a Marine Lt Col, went to senior officers school. I was listening to the radio when the news about Sputinik came on. I listened to it, then, as I was passing through the living room where my father was reading the paper, casually mentioned to him that the Russians had launched a satellite.

His reaction is probably why I remember it. He yelled "What!", leaped from the chair and ran into the kitchen to listen. I was far more impressed by my father's launch than by the satellite's.

A note on duck and cover drills during the cold war. We were stationed in Yokosuka, Japan from '54 through '56. For our drills we didn't duck and cover. The base air raid sirens would sound and the entire elementary school would be marched to nearby air raid caves that had been dug by the Japanese during WWII. Much more exciting and out of class for at least an hour!

Ken Wright, Chesterfield, MO (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 5:59 PM)

I can clearly remember lying in the back yard in our suburban Washington DC home in October 1957 to watch Sputnik go by in the night sky. On that night who could have imagined that nearly 5 years to the date (October 1962), in that same house, I would be living at what many regarded as ground zero during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

Sputnik and the polio vaccine are two historically important events occurring in my lifetime that ultimately drove me to a career in science.

Lex Cowsert, New Braunfels, TX (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 6:20 PM)

I was in my second year of college in engineering in El Paso taking my first course in general physics. My professor (Dr. Ballard) was a part time teacher on loan from White Sands Proving Ground. The morning Sputnik was announced, we were all ears listening to him explain the whole phenomenon, suggesting that he was not at all surprised about the event. What a wonderful memory!

Dwight Reagan

Dwight Reagan (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 6:31 PM)

I can remembere how frightened we were as kids, that the Russians had beat the US into space. We felt that this was the beginning of the end.
America was always the first in everything and the greatest to us, the thought that we were second to our greatest enemy really scared us. This was more scary then the missle crisis to us.

mike burke, chicago il (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 6:32 PM)

I was 6 years old when Sputnik passed overhead one evening. Mom, Dad and I stood out on our front lawn in Fullerton, CA with the rest of the neighbors. Everyone was very quiet and seemed nervous. This was before smog made Southern California's air too thick to see the stars clearly.

In the following years, duck and cover exercises were held regularly in school, bomb shelters were dug in back yards and grocery stores were emptied during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was a fearful time in which to grow up, but at least a kid could walk the streets without the risk of kidnapping or being shot in a drive by attack.

Debbie Finn, Pleasanton, CA (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 6:34 PM)

I was 10. My friend Chris was 9. We were camping out that night- away from family and friends. We had our camping gear, a flashlight and a transistor radio. We had planned to listen to rock-n-roll music and stay up all night, all things parents wouldn't allow at home. This was our first overnighter.

Shortly after sundown the radio news interuptions began. Russia launched a satellite. The USA was in a cold war with Russia at that particular time and Russia had lauched a satellite!

Our comfort factor for that evening crashed. Was the satellite carrying a secret attack force? Would it land in our small town? What science fiction type weapons would they have. We left our flashlight on to see any potential attackers. By 11:00 PM its batteries failed. We lay in the dark. We listened to the new interrupts about the circling Sputnik... every 90 minutes or so, over and over. The music wasn't important anymore, just the announcer's updates. Around 3 or 4 AM our radio went silent, lost its power. We were alone. We slept intermittently then, until sunrise came when we could see the trails again and quickly hiked back home, back to the comfort of other people.

Yes, I still remember Sputnik's launch.

Tom, Amelia, Ohio (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 6:43 PM)

I was only 3 when Sputnik circled the Earth, but it is one of my fondest memories with my father. He found out when it would be passing overhead and we went outside that night to look for it. We saw it moving across the heavens. I was hooked on space and astronomy from that moment to this very day.

Carol DiNolfo, Los Angeles, CA (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 7:08 PM)

Age 27, sunset in Worcester MA, Drs. parking lot, St Vincent Hospital. I was an "In-Residence" Physician training in General Surgery. A portable radio with short wave tuned in to the "beeps", which I heard. But multiple attempts to see the Sputnik passing overhead was never successful Anxieties abounded about A-bomb technology in the "Cold War" era and outer space delivery to the US. Some friends said they saw Sputnik traversing the sky. I had doubts. I suspect that they saw a airliner going to Boston or NYC. Or a twinkling star. After a couple weeks, talk returned to sex jokes, Yankee-Red Sox stats,good restaurants, the next car purchase, and pending induction into the military. Back to normalcy!

Ron Potash, Lawrenceville NJ (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 7:32 PM)

I remember the dog that went up with Sputnik and listening to it die......horrible death.

pam sams, escondido , california (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 7:35 PM)

I remember one item that made the news during the Sputnik event. That is, someone named their newborn son "Orbit". That is about as bad as being "A Boy Named Sue". I wonder how ol' Orbit made it these last 50 years. Bob

Bob, Marion, IL (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 7:39 PM)

When Sputnik was launched in Oct. 1957, I was just three months shy of 5 years old. Sputnik's orbit brought it over the United States frequently, as the Soviets wanted to remind us of their technological feat. We lived in a third floor apartment in a Massachusetts mill city. I vividly remember our second floor neighbor running up the stairs with the latest news from the radio saying it was passing overhead. We all gathered on the back porch to watch a light slowly traverse the early evening sky. At the time I didn't really understand why my family and neighbors were so excited, but neither will I ever forget that moment in my life.

Bob C., Mansfield, Mass. (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 7:50 PM)

I was 6 years old and recovering from a leg fracture at the time of the Sputnik launch. It was a very prominent news story, about as prominent as the Milwaukee Braves playing in the World Series.

Thomas L. Schmitz Malone, Wisconsin (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 7:53 PM)

My husband played hockey in Europe and played the Russians when they were just starting to compete with other teams and was given a small model of a Sputnik as a gift from the Russians. My grandson now has it and has taken it for show and tell at his school.

schoolnana - Ottawa, Canada (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 8:38 PM)

I was 10 when my father got my brothers and I out of bed before dawn to watch Sputnik go over. He had to explain to me what it was. We went out in front of our house (near Boston) with a lot of our neighbors out as well. Silence fell in hushed awe as we finally saw the tiny speck of light going across the sky. It was one of many times my father got us kids up for astronomical events such as comets and the aurora borealis (yes in Boston). It recent years it was a trip to the hills to see the MIR station go by with both Russian and Americans on board. How far we've come.

B. Stewart, Los Angeles, CA (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 8:49 PM)

As a 13 year old aspiring Ham Radio operator I was thrilled to hear signals from Sputnik on 20 and 40 Meters (wavelength) on my recently acquired Heathkit AR-3 short wave receiver. Sure everyone was running around saying that the sky was falling, but for me being able to participate in this small way demystified it and made it and exciting and wondrous experience.

Jim House, Walnut Creek, CA (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 9:10 PM)

Sub: Space Quest
Sputnik era is the beginning of Space Quest . The vision and Leadership must be acknowledged by all Humanity.With and ISS ,are we advancing in Space Quest to Cosmos Quest ?The Cosmic Puzzle attracts Scientists, Philosophers and all mankind in
several disciplines in search of divinity of the Human Being and Nature.Search must inspire PEACE and Co-existence on this Earthplanet. Manned Space Flights can be replaced with Sensible Perception of COSMOS YOGA VISION Development that helps COSMOLOGY as harbinger of World Peace

Vidyardhi Nanduri (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 9:15 PM)

I was a TSgt in the USAF and stationed in Fresno, CA as an USAF Advisor to the CA ANG's 194th Fighter Intercepter Sgdn. located in Fresno.
Along with many other Fresno residents, I stood on the walkway in front of my home at 946 North Fruit Ave. as Sputnik passed overhead. It appeared to be a very bright ball and moving along at a pretty good clip.

Wayne L. Doering, USAF Ret., Clarendon, Texas (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 9:27 PM)

I remember sitting on a street curb at night and watching the little light go across the night sky and my Dad telling me that as of that day, the world was going to be a very different place. For myself, I thought it was a kind of neat thing that it moved slower than a shooting star, but was not impressed with the achievement. I was mor interested in Howdy Doody and all on the rounded tube black and white television that we had not had for very long and my wondrous crystal radio. Of course, I was only 8 years old at the time.

Jim, Albuquerque (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 9:28 PM)

I was seven, and my father took me outside to watch it pass overhead. I was aware that it was a significant event that impressed my father, but not aware of how profoundly it would be changing the US. Thereafter, I began watching every US manned launch, which early morning TV programs were made available by my school in California, which routine I continued on my own thereafter until well into the Space Shuttle era.

Walter L. Wagner (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 9:30 PM)

i was in parochial school in the second grade, and I remember the nun telling us to pray because the communists had put another moon in the sky

Bruce Meigs Brick, NJ (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 9:34 PM)

I remember lying in the grass of my uncle's house and seeing Sputnik dart across the sky. The street hardly had any lights, so acclimating to a dark sky was no problem.

a p garcia (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 10:15 PM)

I was a space nut already, thanks to living in suburban New York and visiting the Hayden Planetarium a lot, and thanks to my grandfather giving me a copy of 'From the Earth to the Moon', and to the books by Clarke, Ley, and others. But I was a day late in learning of Sputnik because I'd gone to bed when my parents saw the news on TV and they didn't think to wake me. So it was the next day, about noon, when I walked to the corner to get my stack of 'Reporter Dispatch' newspapers to deliver, that I saw the headline -- and knew my life was different, forever. After delivering the papers I walked down to the town grocery store and hung out in front, chatting with neighbors coming by -- and I was astonished they didn't seem to feel their lives had changed at all. But I was just a gawky 12-year-old, what did I know?

Jim Oberg (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 10:25 PM)

I remember lying on my bed, listening to radio station KYW in Cleveland. It was Friday night, I was 13 years old, and we had just gotten home from our local high school’s football game with our arch rival. Rocky River had lost to Bay Village, 12-6. The date was October 4, 1957.

“We’ve just received a news bulletin - it has been reported that the Soviet Union has launched the world’s first artificial satellite into orbit around the earth.” I ran downstairs and told my parents. They were surprised – and I was shocked. My 1950’s eighth graders view of the world was simple – the Soviet Union was the “bad guy”. America was “good”, and “better than anyone else.” We had the best technology, were the smartest, the leaders, invincible. Suddenly everything looked upside down.

Space and astronomy had always interested me. Plastic models of the Vanguard satellite the United States was planning to launch during the 1957-58 “International Geophysical Year” were on my wall. It was round, about the size of a grapefruit, and weighed about 3 pounds. Suddenly something called “Sputnik” was in space “beeping” messages down to earth. And then I heard it was about 22 inches in diameter and weighed 185 pounds... Clearly, in the frank language of a later time, the Soviet Union hadn’t just won the race, they had kicked our butts. And this was not a high school football game…

I still remember the first subsequent Life magazine article with the words “The Feat that Shook the Earth” emblazoned on a photo showing the track of the Sputnik satellite etched across the night sky.

The ramifications of the Soviet’s success could not be fully foreseen. First, there was the panic to “catch up”. But every attempted launch of a Vanguard satellite resulted in pictures of exploding rockets. The federal government abruptly got the Army Missile Center in Huntsville, Alabama involved. In what in hindsight was an amazingly short time, they used a Redstone intermediate range ballistic missile to launch the US first satellite called Explorer 1 just four months later on January 31, 1958. But the space race was on. For every step we took, the Soviet Union took a bigger one. Bigger satellites, higher orbits, launching animals (dogs) into space… Step by step they were constantly ahead. And then they put the first man into space on April 12, 1961. Our response was a feeble sub-orbital flight of Alan Shepherd on May 5th.

It was a year later when John Glenn became America’s first astronaut to circle the globe – February 20, 1962. The whole nation watched in hope of a successful mission. I was a senior in high school. Classes were canceled and we all remained in our “home rooms” listening to the crackling of the radio coverage being played out over the intercom system. Adrenaline flowed through our veins; we’d seen so many photos of exploding rockets we expected the worst. But this time it all worked; a small sense of American pride was renewed. But clearly we were in second place.

Sputnik caused a major self-appraisal of America’s school systems. Why had the Soviets beaten us? What was wrong with our school system? There were numerous articles comparing the quality of math and science education in the two countries – it didn’t look pretty. Changes occurred quickly; advanced placement math and science classes appeared. Every week there were major articles in newspapers and magazines about “outer space”. The Sunday newspaper magazines had lead articles about getting to the moon. The entire nation was fixated on space.

Years later I was lucky enough to work for IBM supporting NASA in Houston on the Apollo and Shuttle programs. Looking back I'm amazed how fast things moved between Sputnik and Apollo. It was a great time to be alive.

Gordon Myers, Stamford, Connecticut (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 10:30 PM)

I was in my final week of Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island SC & we were allowed to go to the PX to make purchases before being sent for advanced infantry training. We had been in total isolation for 12+ weeks so had no idea what was going on in civilian life for 3 months.One of the recruits bought a pocket radio & we heard the eerie sounds of Sputnik as it circled above the earth. Our Drill Instructor said we were probably going to be sent to Europe to fight the Russians, who had now one upped America in the space race, & President Eisenhower was concerned they would use Sputnik-like space craft to drop A bombs on US cities. By the time we graduated from boot camp there was more concern by the US government about Castro in Cuba so we were sent to Gitmo to "protect" the incumbent Battista regime.
Barbedwire 57

Bob, Newport Beach CA (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 10:33 PM)

I was a high school freshman in '57 and already very interested in science. I had watched the various Vanguard rockets explode dramatically on the launch pad more than once. The dime store was offering various toys based on what was certain to be the first earth satilitte. So it was a shock to everyone, myself included, to learn that the Russians, who were generally thought to be incapable of doing anything this exact. Keep in mind that to insert anyting into orbit required a high degree of accuracy and such accuracy meant that the Russian a-bombs could be placed exactly where they intended. Hence the extreme amount of alarm over this achievement.

To give you some idea of the state of things at this time, I learned of the Sputnik from the daily newspaper, and watched the explosions of the Vanguard rockets in the movie theater during the News reel that either followed or preceded the cartoon short before the double feature. Such was life in a central Nebraska town far from the nearest TV transmitters.

R. McKenzie, Nebraska (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 10:56 PM)

In Northern Wisconsin about 1957 when I was about 10, my parents were building a cabin on Lake Hilbert. We would go there for the entire summer and my dad would work on the cabin for his two weeks vacation. We would all go down to the dock at night and watch a light in the sky go from west to east, fairly fast. I was told it was Sputnik and once was told it was Telstar, but all I know was it was man made. We would see it just about every night for some time. Then we didn't see it anymore or we didn't look for it. If it was Sputnik, (or the second stage as written) or even Telstar, I will never forget that there was something up there that man put there. I could have cared less that it was Russian made.

Delmar Fairchild, Barron, WI (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 10:58 PM)

I was 12 - it's a memory that the US was upset that the Soviets beat us into space. later we found out that the US could have done it year earlier IF we had used a "military" booster (we were stuck on using the Vanguard (wouldn't work) civilian booster. when we finally launched Pioneer it was with a Jupiter (military booster) IIRC

not stupid Seattle area (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 11:15 PM)

All the people here (and me) were wonder struck at the new space age that began at that time. It wasn't political at all. It was only about the wonder of embarking on space travel and not cultural divide.

Thomas Ashby, Calgary (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 11:17 PM)

This was the result of Americas reply to Sputnik. A political screw-up. A grand example of how a rushed reponse to fear and suspicion can totally flop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK6a6Hkp94o

Thomas Ashby, Calgary (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 11:26 PM)

Sophomore Junior College Economics Class -- the prof
going on and on about U.S. superiority over every single
thing the USSR had - would - could do; literally chastising every question; not allowing room for any
other opinion, WHEN RAP RAP RAP and the Associate Dean
popped in to announce Sputnik! A lesson never forgotten;
still sometimes comes to mind. Thank you, Frank

Frank Hill, Port Townsend, WA (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 11:31 PM)

I remember learning a song in first grade... " Beep-beep, beep-beep, here comes a satellite! Beep-beep, beep, and now it's out of sight! Beep-beep, beep-beep, around the earth it goes! Beep-beep, beep-beep, and that's how science grows!"

Susan Roberts (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 11:50 PM)

I was 15, and had just come home for the weekend from my prep school. My grandmother, called me with the news that the Russians had put an artificial satellite in orbit. As I had been interested in aviation and space since 4th grade, and was independently studying liquid rocket engine design (on my own!), my immediate reaction was a cold chill up my spine. I said to my grandmother and parents, "That means they have an ICBM...if they've solved the re-entry problem!"

The launching of Sputnik I, followed by Laika in Sputnik II a short time later (I don't remember seeing Sputnik I, but do remember watching the carrier rocket's upper stage from Sputnik II wink on and off as it tumbled end-over-end, over Chicago) triggered not only the "Space Race", but a revolution in American science education. By the following year my prep school physics class was a participating member of the experimental course in elementry quantum mechanics developed by MIT. We had mimeographed lessons mailed to our teacher weekly.

I well-remember listening to reports of the launch of Explorer I on the Jupiter-C on January 31, 1958! After my first year of college I was lucky enough to get a job at Cape Canaveral working on the Polaris missile, and to meet six of the Seven Mercury astronauts.

After college and a tour of duty in the USAF, I continued working in the aerospace industry until 1989.

What I find disturbing is that today is the lack of concern on the part of John Q. Public over the rapid developments by the Chinese, Indians, and Japanese in space exploration, as well as the relative indifference on the part of the major space advocacy groups, school administrators and even science teachers to introducing the subject of space and space-related science to youngsters in K-8 grades. Based on personal experience, I believe that if children aren't interested by about 6th grade, they won't be turned on to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines later.

James W. Barnard, Highlands Ranch, CO (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 11:51 PM)

Sputnik 1= October 1, 1957. Nitrogen internal environment.

Sputnik 2= November 2, 1957, balanced Oxygen internal environment. Laika, a female dog, was the passenger. A thermal heater control failed and the dog died of overheating.

Ronald Potash Sr, Lawrenceville, NJ (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 11:58 PM)

I remember being 5 years old in Hesperia, Michigan and standing outside to watch Sputnik go over. I also remember being really afraid that it meant something bad could happen. Perhaps that's why I no longer listen to doom sayers. People have been saying for as long as I can remember that we are all doomed from one thing or another, and you know, somewhere in there I just stopped being afraid of much of anything.

Janet Rice, Round Rock, TX (Sent Thursday, October 04, 2007 12:47 AM)

I was 10 years old in Libertyville, Ill when the news hit. My Dad and I went out one night to see it pass. I can't remember if we saw it or not. An interesting sidelight. I was at ChuLai, Vietnam as a helicopter pilot when our first man landed on the moon. I saw AFVN TV and remembering going out that night to see the moon and marvel that were men on there. I struggled with it as it seemed so much more important than the was I was fighting and the friends I lost. Will I ever get over it? No.

Bob Drury, Dubuque, Ia (Sent Thursday, October 04, 2007 1:10 AM)

I was 5 when my mom took us out to watch it fly by overhead the first time. We went out everynight after that to see the satelite. She was such a space fan. She knew the names of every astronaut that flew a mission (and probably the names of the ones that didn't get to fly). Her dream was answered when my dad got a job at NASA working on the Skylab program. We were thinking of sending her ashes up into space, but we ended up putting "Space Fan" on her grave marker.

Judi Sato, San Jose, CA (Sent Thursday, October 04, 2007 1:19 AM)

I was 18, a freshman Physics major at NMSU, and a volunteer announcer on the campus carrier current Radio Station, KNMA. That evening I was on duty for the evening classical music program when the AP teletype dinged the maximum number of times, signifying a major news break. So I was able to announce Sputnik I to the campus. I was likewise on duty when the first successful U.S. satellite was launched at the end of January, and was privileged to announce that to the campus, too. I was, by that time, working for the Physical Science Lab (PSL) on campus, integrating rocket trajectories from tests at White Sands Missile Range using electro-mechanical calculators to compute positional data at intervals of 1/10th of a second.

After a stint in the Air Force, I was hired by Grumman Aerospace Corp. to work on testing Lunar Module engines for the Apollo program, followed by testing the Mars Lander Viking engine (for organic contamination of landing soils), Shuttle OMS and RCS engines, and eventually on to testing the TDRS Systems for the NASA space network for a total of more than 30 years in Aerospace.

It's been a great ride!!

Wilbur Sitze, Las Cruces, NM (Sent Thursday, October 04, 2007 1:31 AM)

I was ten years old and that morning my parents must have been talking about Sputnik’s launch by the Russians and how it circled our planet several times a day. I walked out the long driveway that October morning to wait for the school bus. I kept looking up, hoping I’d see it fly over before the bus came!

I remember the bomb drills we had in school. Some times, bend over and kiss your ass goodbye under your wooden desk and other times we’d all file into the big gym with all the other classes and sit in rows on the floor and wait to be bombed together.

One Saturday afternoon, I was playing with my two younger brothers out in a nearby field when I saw “the bomb” heading for us! I literally dragged my two protesting crying brothers through a brook and down the rocky dirt driveway to get them home. My mother heard the commotion and came out on the porch shouting over my screams to ask what was wrong. “The bomb, look the bomb is coming!” I cried pointing to the first Goodyear blimp I’d ever seen. They all still laugh about it today. I do too, but back then, I was scared witless. Talk about propaganda…

Lori Upstate New York (Sent Thursday, October 04, 2007 2:25 AM)

I wish I could remember this event.

The first human on the moon is as far back as I can recall. I remember reading about Sputnik later in elementary school. It seems that Americans were freaked about the Russians getting into space first. They even had the first human in space in 1961, which is when I was born. The coolest space mission I can recall, though, was the first space shuttle flight in 1981.

Anthony Wrifford (Sent Thursday, October 04, 2007 2:48 AM)

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