America stunned by Soviet success in the space race…

January 25, 2016 by · Leave a Comment 

Blog-1-25-2016-Sputnik-IIt can be difficult to appreciate how stunning the event of the Soviet Union’s success with the Sputnik launch was given the phenomenal success of American space exploration in the 1960’s, but at the time this headline in the Los Angeles Times” issue of October 5, 1957: “RUSS SATELLITE CIRCLING EARTH” was terrifying for many (see first few moments of October Sky).

The Soviet Union had taken the lead in what became known as the “space race”, with fears of what havoc Soviet domination of the heavens could mean to the United States. Early American attempts to reach outer space were plagued with failures before a string of successes would cause America to be the first to put man on the moon. Today there are joint American-Russian space efforts with the Space Station, a situation which could not have been imagined in 1957.