Sputnik’s Legacy
More than 60 years ago, on October 4, 1957, hundreds of Americans could be seen raising their heads and peering through binoculars in rapt amazement. The object that had captured everyone’s attention was a brand new entry into our constellation. It would disappear from sight and reappear every 90 minutes or so, and with every pass, newspapers seemed to have a newer headline to stun the nation with. The moving star was Sputnik, the first manmade satellite launched into space by the Soviet Union.
That day, humanity climbed out of its earthbound well and crossed the threshold into a new dimension. The dictionary could now add a more realistic meaning to the word ‘spacefarers’. Not since the first flight in which man finally took to the skies had humans understood
