Launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Sputnik 1 circled Earth every 96 minutes, its radio beeps audible to shortwave listeners worldwide. The satellite's success stunned the American public and government, triggering the Space Race and prompting the creation of NASA and sweeping investments in science education within a year.
Sputnik weighed just 184 pounds and carried nothing more sophisticated than two radio transmitters, yet its simple beep-beep-beep signal, picked up by amateur radio operators from Australia to Alabama, set off a national anxiety attack in the United States. Newspapers ran maps tracking its path overhead as if it were an invading fleet.
The launch exposed a real vulnerability: if the Soviets could put a satellite into orbit, they could theoretically deliver a nuclear warhead by rocket to any American city. Congress responded within months, passing the National Defense Education Act and funneling money into math and science programs. President Eisenhower authorized the creation of NASA in 1958.
The satellite itself burned up in the atmosphere after just three months, having completed around 1,440 orbits. Chief designer Sergei Korolev, whose identity the Soviet government kept secret even after his death, had wanted a far more sophisticated satellite, but rushed out the simple sphere to beat American efforts, a gamble that reshaped the twentieth century.
Key people: Sergei Korolev, Nikita Khrushchev