[GLLUG] OT: Sputnik's 50th birthday

Michael Rudas audiotech50 at gmail.com
Thu Oct 4 18:34:44 EDT 2007


October 4th 2007 marks Sputnik 1's 50th birthday.
<http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jj1EL1p0CjbFMmLfcH2r3uBkNNPgD8S2D0A81>
<http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2007/10/sputnik_anniversary>

I remember well the launch news and its aftermath, even though I had
JUST turned 7.  It was a scientific panic tinged with embarrassment as
the US Army's first attempt to launch an Explorer satellite into orbit
failed.  The second try made it-- Explorer 1 was launched the
following January, followed by the Navy's Vanguard 1 (the oldest
satellite still in orbit) launched the following March.  I had been
following news of then-current International Geophysical Year (IGY)
quite avidly, and saw it as just another part of the IGY-- more
interested in the event than in who did it.

The Sputnik launch and our delayed response to it led directly to ARPA
and the modern NASA-- hence the modern space program and the Internet.

-- Mikey


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