The Cold War
was a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union in
every conceivable arena – even space. When the Soviets launched the
world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik I,
in October 1957, it set off alarm bells in the Eisenhower
administration and created intense fear and anxiety among the US public
that the Soviet Union had surpassed the technological achievements of
the United States.Sputnik orbited the earth and transmitted radio signals for twenty-one days before burning up in the earth’s atmosphere.1^11start superscript, 1, end superscript Sputnik II was launched the following month, in November, carrying a dog named Laika. In May 1958, the Soviets launched Sputnik III,
which weighed almost three thousand pounds. Continuing their run of
successful launches, the Soviets in 1959 sent a space probe, Lunik III, to photograph the dark side of the moon.
